Posted on 05/13/2005 5:57:45 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Abortion bill on parental consent still alive in Senate after failing in House ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN (AP) - A House bill requiring parental consent on abortion failed on a technical point Thursday, but lawmakers are looking to the Senate for another way to pass the measure.
The House proposal by Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, would have required girls younger than 18 to get consent from one of their parents before having an abortion.
A disappointed King, who watched similar bills fail in 1999, 2001 and 2003, said the measure is something Texas parents want.
"We don't let minors get any other medical procedure at all without their parents' consent," said King, adding that he had the support of at least 90 of 150 House members. "That's just wrong."
ASSOCIATED PRESS Hannah Riddering, Texas president of the National Organization of Women, listens Thursday to testimony by Sen. Chris Harris, R-Arlington, during a hearing by the Senate Committee on State Affairs in Austin.
After what abortion-rights activists considered a small House victory, they weaved their way through the Capitol halls in hopes of defeating a similar Senate measure. That bill filed by Sen. Chris Harris, R-Arlington, was approved in a Senate committee Thursday.
Parental consent could still become law if the Senate bill is approved by both chambers and Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who has repeatedly voiced his support for the measure.
Opponents say the consent bill would result in unsafe abortions and abuse by parents. They said it was one step in eliminating reproductive rights for women.
Current Texas law requires that a minor's parents be notified before their daughter has an abortion. A judge, however, can allow bypass of the notification.
Critics of King's bill said it also was aimed at intimidating judges who grant bypasses. It would have required courts to compile numbers of judicial bypasses granted in each county.
Such a list could force judges to choose between upholding the law and following a political agenda to eliminate abortion, said Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin. It also could compromise the anonymity of girls who receive judicial bypasses, she said.
Under both the House and Senate bills, girls who do not want to involve their parents for fear of abuse or who do not have parents who could give consent would have been able to seek judicial bypass.
"Before someone should be able to go around a parent, they should have a really good reason, and that's all we're saying," King said.
Sarah Wheat, spokeswoman for NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, said the consent measures would especially hurt young mothers who already deal with dysfunctional family lives and would not address the real problem of teen pregnancy.
Keep fighting, Texas.
What is the "technical point" which caused the bill to fail? From the article, I get no real information at all.
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