Published: 02.27.2004
By Howard Fischer
CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES
PHOENIX - Courting a gubernatorial veto, the House voted Thursday to impose
a 24-hour waiting period on abortion.
The 32-27 vote caps eight years of efforts by abortion foes to get the Legislature
to approve the restriction. The Senate approved the measure a week earlier on
an 18-11 margin.
But the chances of the plan actually becoming law are slim: Gov. Janet Napolitano
said during the 2002 campaign that she would veto any measure with a waiting
period.
"The governor's position has not changed," Napolitano press aide Paul
Allvin said Thursday night. But he refused to say that definitely means she
will quash the measure when it reaches her desk Monday, saying she wants to
review the bill.
Hoping for a different outcome, Cathi Herrod of the Center for Arizona Policy,
which has pushed the measure for years, already is requesting people to write
to Napolitano or call her office to urge her to sign it - or at least allow
it to become law without her signature.
"We would hope the governor would do the right thing for the women of Arizona,"
she said.
Herrod conceded that if Napolitano vetoes the measure, there are not enough
votes for an override.
SB 1077 says that at least 24 hours before a pregnancy can be terminated a woman
must be informed of the nature of the procedure and the risks and alternatives.
She also must be told the probable age of the fetus as well as the medical risks
of carrying the child to term.
The only exception would be if a doctor believes an immediate abortion is necessary
to avert death or "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily
function."
Rep. Doug Quelland, R-Phoenix, said the legislation is about providing information.
"Very few women arrive at an abortionist doctor's office with all the facts,
and certainly not all they need," he said.
And Rep. Sylvia Laughter, I-Kayenta, said that a 24-hour delay is not a major
burden.
But Rep. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, said all that presumes pregnant women make these
decisions lightly. "It's not something that they decide to do on the way
to have their hair done," she said.
Rep. Olivia Cajero Bedford, D-Tucson, chided supporters of this measure, saying
they want to prevent abortions but do not back funding for family planning services.
She said only one kind of waiting period might cut down on the need for abortion
- a 24-hour waiting period for men to have sex.
Thursday's vote came after House members defeated a proposed amendment offered
by Lopez that would have kept the waiting period but also included a statement
of intent that the Legislature respects the right of privacy and reproductive
choice that the U.S. Supreme Court made legal with the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
Your thoughts
°To contact the governor about the abortion bill, call 1-800-253-0883, the
toll-free number to the Governor's Office.
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