Showdown For Abortion Bill Abortion-Rights Backers Hope To Derail Bill

Abortion-rights advocates see today’s showdown in the Legislature over a so-called parental consent bill as the best chance at derailing a plan with amendments even some anti-abortion lawmakers question.

Opponents of more abortion restrictions and their Senate allies managed to tie up proceedings Friday night, bidding to kill the bill so the Legislature could adjourn for the year. But anti-abortion advocates won the first skirmish when opponents fell two votes short of prohibiting consideration of the controversial deal between House and Senate leaders.

That kept the issue alive, pushing the session beyond the adjournment target into this week. Senate President Pro Tem Jerry Twiggs, the chief advocate of the agreement, said the delay works in his favor.

“Their best chance to have won this would have been to come out on the floor and vote on it” Friday night, Twiggs said. “Time is their enemy. The longer it goes, the less chance they have to beat it.”

A chance comes Monday when the Senate decides whether to tentatively adopt the compromise. One element of the proposal has raised concerns with several Republicans who might form a majority to delete it.

If that happens, it could jeopardize acceptance by the House, where Speaker Michael Simpson - a candidate for the U.S. Congress - has guaranteed the original deal will be approved.

After being declared dead repeatedly last week, leaders finally struck a compromise last Friday in which both sides gave ground.

At the core, the compromise limits emergency abortions on minors to when there is a threat to the life of the mother - not the health, as some courts have required. It also redefines abortion in a way critics believe actually bans birth control pills and other prescribed contraceptives like the French “morning after drug,” RU-486.

A third section repeals existing law that allows medical facilities to presume that patients seeking abortions are competent and truthful - something some attorneys believe is a major policy change for the medical community.

The compromise was forced by House members worried that they would be blamed for killing a legitimate abortion restriction just because they wanted more than the Senate was willing to offer.