ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 14, 1996 TAG: 9602140084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE AND DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITERS
The state Senate voted Tuesday to treat any killing of an unborn child - except legal abortion - as a first-degree murder, a step toward overturning a precedent that has been part of Virginia law since British rule.
In the House of Delegates, lawmakers voted to prohibit doctors from performing abortions on minors without first notifying the girls' parents.
Republican Gov. George Allen said he supports both measures, which represent a broad move toward granting rights to the unborn. Both still need approval by the opposite chambers.
But abortion-rights advocates pledged a sharp fight in the final weeks of the 1996 General Assembly session.
"Thank God we have a bicameral legislature," said Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, who voted against the Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake, which would make the premeditated killing of a viable fetus a first-degree murder. The courts would determine whether a fetus is viable, a definition that typically means any pregnancy beyond its 21st or 22nd week.
If the bill becomes law, the killer of a pregnant woman could be charged with two murders. And attackers who cause their victims to miscarry also could be charged with murder. The measure specifically excludes legal abortions.
Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, tried unsuccessfully to soften language in the bill, arguing that "it goes down that slippery slope of calling a fetus a person."
Proponents of abortion rights resisted the measure because it grants unborn children standing in the law for the first time. That would change a precedent established by British common law that the law protects only people outside the womb.
The measure passed the chamber 31-9, a margin wider than most expected. Many legislators said they viewed the bill as a protection of women's physical and emotional health, not an abortion issue.
"We face the appalling possibility that unless this bill becomes law, an assault on a woman that kills her fetus would only be punishable as an assault on a woman," said Sen. Joseph Gartlan, D-Fairfax County, an abortion-rights supporter who voted for the bill. "It's a good bill," Allen later told a reporter. "Normal people are sickened by the thought of not only injury to the mother, but that an innocent child also has been killed."
Later in the day, the House voted 71-27 to approve the strongest parental notification bill to clear the chamber in years. It would require notifying the parents or guardians of anyone younger than 18 who wants to have an abortion. Judges and doctors could bypass the requirement in some situations.
The House stripped a provision that would have allowed a physician to notify a girl's grandparent or adult sibling. The vote was 55-43.
Richmond Del. Anne "Panny" Rhodes said some young women from dysfunctional or abusive homes would be at risk if they told their parents. "Making a statement that parents are loving and special does not make it so," she said.
But Norfolk Del. Thelma Drake urged lawmakers to consider the implications of legislating parents out of the picture.
Parental notification faces its toughest haul in the Senate, where a similar proposal was defeated in committee earlier this year. But supporters, buoyed by the unexpectedly wide support in the House, will attempt to bypass the committee and bring the matter before the full Senate if necessary.
Allen, who two years ago vetoed a weaker parental notification bill, said he would sign the measure that passed the House.
In other General Assembly action:
House of Delegates members voted 93-7 and followed the Senate in approving a package that supporters say would reform the juvenile justice system. The slight differences between the two versions will be addressed in conference.
Delegates, 93-6, denied bail to previously convicted violent offenders charged with a subsequent violent act or selling drugs.
Senators voted 32-8 to mandate a 10-day jail sentence for juveniles who assault teachers or correctional officers.
Delegates voted 82-17 to require store clerks to ask for photo identification before selling cigarettes to people who look under 18.
Staff writer Warren Fiske contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB