PRO-LIFERS WORKING FEVERISHLY IN STATE LEGISLATURES

By Dave Andrusko

Understandably, most people's attention tends to focus on the national stage where pro-lifers do highly publicized battle in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. But grassroots pro-lifers know that there are 50 state legislatures. Many times, crucially important action will also be taking place closer to home.

Not every state legislature meets every year and, even when they do, often the "window" for passing bills is narrow. As this article is being written, pro-lifers around the country are vigorously promoting their legislation and attempting to thwart pro-abortion initiatives.

Since many states are still in session, any coverage is necessarily a snapshot in time, a picture that could change significantly. Having said that, NRLC State Legislative Director Mary Spaulding Balch is working closely with NRLC affiliates to carry the day for unborn children and the medically dependent.
Balch told NRL News that anti-life forces are contesting pro- life legislation aggressively, especially in bills to ban cloning. She noted that in several states, "such bans sailed through one house only to come to a halt in the other." What happened?

"It was as if the universities and the biotechnology industry suddenly realized that state legislatures were serious about stopping so-called 'therapeutic cloning,'" she said.

This euphemism was coined by cloning proponents to try to distance themselves from cloning embryos which would be implanted in a woman's womb (labeled "reproductive cloning"), which is widely opposed, and the cloning of embryos whose sole purpose is to be lethally experimented on ("therapeutic cloning").Balch said that many states have passed bills in one house of a legislature with pro-lifers meeting fierce resistance in the other legislative body.
"Nebraska is unique in that it is the only state that has just one house (the Senate), but what has happened there is not unusual," Balch said.

One pro-abortion senator routinely filibusters. In a body comprised of 49 senators, it requires 33 votes to "invoke cloture" (end the filibuster). Even though a bill to stop the use of tissue harvested from aborted babies had a solid majority of 29 votes, pro-lifers fell four votes short of the necessary 33 cloture votes.

But there is good news as well. States such as Florida have an excellent chance of passing legislation mandating that abortion clinics make detailed reports of whom they are aborting and establishing basic regulations on a largely unregulated industry.

In addition, Balch said, a number of states are making progress passing "Choose Life"-type license plates, with many measures earmarking part of the proceeds for crisis pregnancy centers.

There are currently 15 Women's Right to Know laws on the books. West Virginia, Arizona, and Iowa are working overtime to pass their versions this session.

Another type of innovative, mainstream law beginning to make headway is "Unborn Victims of Violence" (UVVA). Nebraska passed its UVVA measure almost unanimously and Gov. Mike Johanns quickly signed it into law. Kentucky and Idaho are striving to pass similar laws this session.

Parental involvement laws are on the books in 25 states. In Virginia a parental consent law easily passed the House of Delegates February 9 but was assigned to a hostile Senate committee, where it died.

But what happened in Hawaii may be the best signal of what is to come in the near future. On their own, hospitals on one of the islands required minors to obtain their parents' consent before undergoing an abortion.

The usual forces went after the hospitals and they backed off. Legislation was introduced in the legislature to restore the policy but this effort failed.

"However, the story was on the front pages of the major newspapers for days," Balch said. "It was a huge learning experience for many people in Hawaii who realized for the first time that their teenage daughters can have abortions without their parents' knowledge or consent."

Balch told NRL News, "Whatever happens this session, there is a clear message: we need to have pro-life majorities in both houses, indeed large enough to overcome a gubernatorial veto, if the governor is not pro-life."

Balch added, "We've made enormous progress in the past few legislative cycles and we fully expect that trend to continue." Pro-lifers, she concluded, "have worked hard but must work even harder in the months and years to come."