DATE: Thursday, November 27, 1997           TAG: 9711270679

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   42 lines

PARENTAL NOTIFICATION LAW TO BE CLARIFIED IN APPEALS COURT HEARING ABORTION RIGHTS GROUP SAYS THE LAW'S WORDING VIOLATES A MINOR'S RIGHTS.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has set a date for the next step in the battle over the new parental notification abortion law between the state and an organization that supports abortion rights.

In a ruling made Wednesday, the court scheduled a March 3 hearing to decide whether the notification law should stay in place pending a Planned Parenthood lawsuit against the state, or whether the law should be suspended until the lawsuit is resolved. The suit by the family planning and abortion rights group claims the state's notification law is unconstitutional.

On June 30, the night before the law requiring minors to notify a parent before an abortion went into effect, U.S. District Judge James Turk issued an injunction blocking it. Turk agreed with Planned Parenthood, saying there was a ``substantial likelihood that the (law) is unconstitutional.''

But that same evening, 4th Circuit Judge Michael Luttig placed a stay on Turk's injunction. This let the notification law take effect July 1.

Last month, the 4th Circuit Court voted to keep Luttig's stay in place until an appeal could be heard.

If the court decides on March 3 that Turk's original injunction was unnecessary, the law would stay in effect at least until Planned Parenthood's lawsuit is resolved.

But if the court rules that Turk's injunction was valid, the law would be taken off the books pending the lawsuit.

If the law was put on hold, ``we wouldn't ask the age of the patients, for example,'' said Karen Raschke, a Richmond attorney who works with Planned Parenthood. ``We wouldn't require minors to come in with a piece of paper signed by the parent.''

A majority of states have some form of parental notification, but Planned Parenthood objects to the Virginia law's wording.

The law says that if a judge finds a girl to be mature he ``may'' grant her the right to an abortion without notifying a parent. Other states' laws say the judge ``shall'' grant a bypass if he finds the girl to be mature. That wording, and other sections of the Virginia law, make it unconstitutional, Planned Parenthood says.

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