Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 3, 1994 TAG: 9403030103
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short
Sen. L. Louise Lucas, D-Norfolk, said Wednesday the bill may clear the Senate Education and Health Committee, which traditionally has defeated such bills. The committee voted down a Senate notification bill 8-7 last month and has a House version of the bill on its docket today.
"It's very close to passage," said Lucas, who opposes the bill. "A lot of that has to do with the recent election."
Gov. George Allen campaigned in favor of parental notification last fall and has made passage of the bill one of his priorities this year.
The bill sponsored by Del. Roscoe Reynolds, D-Martinsville, would require that a parent be notified when an unmarried girl under age 18 seeks an abortion. The girl could seek permission from a court if she does not want to tell a parent.
Lucas said she would support amending the bill to allow another adult family member to be notified instead. An effort to make that change failed in the House before the Reynolds bill passed.
"This is not a notice bill but an anti-abortion bill," Lucas said. Abortion opponents want "to make the process of notification as difficult, intimidating and as time-consuming as possible."
Robin DeJarnette, a lobbyist for the Virginia Society for Human Life, said, "There is no hidden agenda. Seventy-five to 80 percent of Virginians want parental involvement."
She said a notification law would lead to fewer teen pregnancies and fewer girls suffering complications from abortions.
About 2,300 girls under age 18 get abortions in Virginia each year.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB