Abortion Issue In Limbo

Wed., March 19, 1997

Chris Mulick Staff writer

A Spokane lawmaker’s proposal to ban late-term and partial-birth abortions hangs in limbo as a major legislative deadline approaches.

All bills not passed out of the legislative house they were introduced in by tonight will die.

“It’s in the speaker’s hands at this point,” said Rep. Mark Sterk, referring to House Speaker Clyde Ballard. “I’ve done everything I can do at this point.”

Ballard, R-Wenatchee, said he doesn’t know if Sterk’s bill will come to a vote.

If it doesn’t, it won’t be because HB 1031 doesn’t have the votes. Sterk, R-Spokane, says he has 50 votes out of 96 in support of his bill, including three from Democrats.

Republican leaders may be hesitant to force the issue to the forefront because members of the caucus would have to take a tough stand on a bill that likely would be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Gary Locke.

“It’s no secret, it’s a dicey issue for the caucus,” Sterk said. “There are members of the caucus who would prefer not to see it come up. I understand it might be a tough vote.”

If passed into law, the impact could be minimal.

In a partial-birth abortion, all but the head of a fetus is removed from the vagina and doctors remove the brain through a catheter.

The Department of Health reports only three late-term abortions out of 25,335 were performed in Washington in 1995, the most recent year for which accurate data is available.

Sterk’s bill would ban both procedures, unless the life of the mother is in question.

A late-term abortion is any abortion performed in the last trimester of a pregnancy. All three late-term abortions conducted in 1995 resulted from multiple fetal abnormalities.

Pam Hayes, a health services administrator for the state Department of Health, says Initiative 120 has limited most late-term abortions anyway. Passed by voters in 1992, the initiative prohibits abortions when the fetus could live outside the womb. With enhanced technology, Hayes said, fetuses are becoming viable at an earlier age.

“As technology gets better, viability gets better,” Hayes said.

Hayes said there may have been partial-birth abortions performed in the state, even though there is no record. Physicians who perform abortions are required to submit documentation to the Department of Health. Some don’t indicate what procedure they use.

“You can’t say nobody has ever done one because we don’t know if someone did one and didn’t report it,” Hayes said.

Still, the number of any unreported partial-birth abortions would be minimal, Hayes said.

Said Sterk: “If they aren’t happening now, great. Let’s not start.”

, DataTimes

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