Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 17, 1993 TAG: 9311170130
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But a legislator who sponsored a parental-notification bill passed by both houses of the General Assembly in 1992 said anyone who expects an easy ride for a similar bill next year "doesn't fully understand the legislative process or the willingness of the opposition to go all out to see it defeated."
Del. Roscoe Reynolds, D-Martinsville, said Tuesday that because notification legislation has been introduced in every session since 1986, he expects it again next year.
But, he said, he's not confident it will pass.
The people who will be lobbying the legislature over the issue said they think passage is a pretty good bet - and this time there will be a governor in office who likely will sign it.
David Nova, spokesman for Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge, said that although he'll be working against it, he expects the General Assembly to "pass some sort of anti-abortion legislation."
Speaking for the Virginia Society for Human Life, Andrea Sexton said she also anticipates legislative action. "I certainly hope Virginia will follow the lead of the many states that have passed parental notification laws," she said.
Both houses of the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill in 1992 that would have required that parents be notified. That bill included a "judicial bypass" provision that allowed minors to get a judge's permission instead.
Doctors could have been fined up to $500 for failing to comply with the bill's provisions.
The bill failed when Gov. Douglas Wilder refused to sign it, insisting on more than a dozen changes.
Gov.-elect George Allen reiterated this week that he endorses the concept of parental notification, with a judicial bypass provision.
Reynolds said Tuesday that many people fail to appreciate the distinction between notification and consent requirements. His interpretation, he said, is that the courts have required the bypass provisions only where consent was required.
The bill the Virginia legislature approved last year required that parents be notified - not that they grant permission - before a minor gets an abortion.
Although doctors were required to make a "good faith effort" to notify parents before the abortion, the parents could have been notified afterward, Reynolds said.
The legislation was "not pro- or anti-abortion," he said, but an attempt to ensure that children's health interests were protected.
The Mississippi law requires minors to get the consent of both parents, or a judge, before she can get an abortion.
Opponents argue that both consent and notification laws endanger pregnant minors who are from dysfunctional homes.
Abusive parents might physically harm their daughter when they discover she's pregnant, they say, or the girl might try dangerous illegal methods of aborting her pregnancy, they say.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.