Abortion Issue Could Split Gop

House Republican conservatives once again are pushing measures to restrict abortions, but they got an ambivalent reception Tuesday from their leaders and the issue is seen as dead in the Democratic Senate.

Indeed, signs are that the abortion issue’s main impact in the 1996 legislative session will be its threat to unity within the 62-member Republican House majority, whose members are split on the issue.

Abortion-restriction bills got out of the House last year only after tense and angry debate among Republicans, but they died in Senate committee. Gov. Mike Lowry also makes no secret of his intent to veto any measure seen as restricting current abortion law.

Measures dropped into the House hopper Tuesday include:

HB2265 to require parents or guardians to be notified before minors or incompetent persons receive abortions.

HB2299 to limit use of public money, to finance abortions unless the mother’s life is in danger, the pregnancy is the result of rape or the pregnant woman is very poor.

“I voted for those measures last year, but our caucus hasn’t discussed them,” House Majority Leader Dale Foreman, R-Wenatchee, said.

House Speaker Clyde Ballard, R-East Wenatchee, added: “Truthfully, I don’t know what we’re going to do with the legislation. Our caucus hasn’t met on it yet.”

House Minority Whip Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said the House Republican leadership is in a tough spot.

Last year, Republican backers and foes of the legislation argued for hours behind closed doors and on the floor before passage. Given the legislation’s poor future in the Senate and with the governor, GOP leaders may want to avoid more fractures this year, Brown said.”I think that it’s clearly been an issue on their (the GOP) agenda, but they don’t want to jeopardize their majority status in the caucus and with voters, too,” she said.