With the midterm elections just a few months away, the Senate will take up a bill today that would make it a crime to flout state laws requiring parents to be notified before a girl can have an abortion.
Sponsored by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., the Child Custody Protection Act would, among other things, make it a federal crime to dodge parental notification laws by taking a minor across state lines for an abortion.
Virginia Republican Sens. John Warner and George Allen are co-sponsors of the bill. As governor, Allen signed Virginia’s parental notification bill.
His spokesman, David Snepp, said the senator is “very concerned” about Virginia’s teens slipping across the state line for abortions.
For anti-abortion activists, today’s vote is critical. Douglas Johnson, lobbyist for the National Right to Life Committee, said Ensign’s bill would be “the biggest” yet passed.
But the scope of the bill is not guaranteed. Abortion rights advocates, led by California Democrats Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, will fight for two amendments to weaken the bill. Feinstein’s amendment would allow grandparents or clergy to take a girl for an abortion; Boxer’s would make an exception if the girl was the victim of incest.
Twenty-nine states — including Virginia — require some kind of parental notification before an abortion can be performed.
Abortion rights advocates say the bill further victimizes the daughters of abusive orneglectful parents.
“It assumes that every family is safe, stable and supportive,” Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., said in a statement Monday. “It does nothing to promote the health and safety of our children.”
Anti-abortion activists say that clinics and irresponsible boyfriends are flouting those laws by ferreting girls across state lines.
“The abortion industry has systematically pandered to young girls,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the problem is acute in the Washington area because the District doesn’t have a notification law and Maryland’s law allows doctors to opt out of notifying parents if they think it’s in the girl’s best interest.
Johnson said he expects senators at today’s debate to hold up phone book ads from abortion clinics in non-notification states, advertising to girls in notification states.
Each side accused the other of exploiting the abortion question to pander to voters ahead of November’s congressional elections.
Many Democrats say they believe they have a chance to recapture the Senate this year, while Republicans hope to beat back the challenge by rallying the hard-core conservatives who gave President Bush his majority in 2004.
Abortion-related campaign donations
Anti-abortion groups
» 2006: $71,000, 96 percent to Republicans
» since 1990: $4.9 million, 94 percent to Republicans
Abortion rights groups
» 2006: $459,000, 79 percent to Democrats
» since 1990: $14 million, 78 percent to Democrats
