THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 17, 1995 TAG: 9501170305
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Recent armed attacks at abortion clinics threaten to make the issue of abortion - perennially an explosive topic in the General Assembly - even more divisive this year.
The legislature again is considering bills that would require notice be given to parents of teenagers seeking abortions and increase punishment for people who block access to clinics. Some legislators say the bills are particularly timely this session in light of the Dec. 31 shooting at Norfolk's Hillcrest Clinic.
``I think it will be a central issue in light of what just happened,'' said Del. Howard Copeland, D-Norfolk. ``This has gotten very nasty.''
No one was injured in the attack on Norfolk's only abortion clinic, which is in Copeland's district. The man accused of the shooting, John C. Salvi III, also is charged with killing two people and wounding five others at two clinics in Brookline, Mass., Dec. 30.
Copeland is a co-sponsor of the clinic access bill, which would make the minimum penalty for multiple convictions for blockading health facilities an automatic 30-day jail sentence and a $2,000 fine.
The bill is a carry-over from last session, when it died in a Senate committee. The bill now is pending on the House floor.
Glen Sussman, a political science professor at Old Dominion University, said abortion largely will be overshadowed by wrangling over Gov. George F. Allen's proposed tax breaks and spending cuts. But election-year politics also may place new emphasis on the clinic access bill, he said.
``With the recent violence that occurred, I think that you may find that public support may have changed, and may have even changed with respect to gaining access,'' Sussman said. ``I think that's an issue that will probably get a lot of attention in this state and a lot of others.''
Parental notification should also be an issue, Sussman said, but perhaps not as big an issue as it was last year when Allen, a Republican, vetoed a compromise bill he deemed too weak.
Allen may be focused this year on pushing his budget amendments through the legislature, but he hasn't forgotten his pledge to renew the parental notification battle.
Allen ``wants to see a true parental notification bill,'' spokesman Ken Stroupe said. That means requiring that a parent be notified if an unmarried girl under age 18 seeks an abortion, Stroupe said. The girl also could seek permission from a judge.
The bill Allen vetoed last year would have lowered the age to under 17 and expand those who could be notified to include a stepparent, grandparent or brother or sister older than 21.
Several versions of the parental notification measure are working their way through the legislative process this session.
Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Karen Raschke, whose group opposes parental notification laws, predicted the debate would play out much the same way as last year, with the General Assembly passing a bill more lenient than the one Allen wants.
She also predicted easy passage of the clinic access bill.
``It's absolutely tragic that someone had to be murdered for this little bill to go forward, but that's exactly what's driving this bill right now,'' she said.
Stroupe said Allen probably would sign a clinic access bill.
But not everyone thinks it's a good idea.
``I think the right to peacefully assemble is guaranteed by the Constitution,'' said Senate Minority Leader Joseph Benedetti of Richmond. ``If it's not peaceful, then there are criminal statutes on the books.''
Some anti-abortion activists also argue that making protests tougher will incite extremists to commit violence.
Abortion opponents acknowledged that the recent violence has put them on the defensive, but they say the attacks shouldn't play a role in the legislative debate on abortion regulation.
``To say that this is representative of the pro-life movement is completely and utterly ludicrous,'' said Fiona Givens, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Society for Human Life. ``I hope that one is not carried away down at the General Assembly by the sensationalism that has obviously caught the media's attention.''
KEYWORDS: ABORTION GENERAL ASSEMBLY by CNB