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Death Certificates on Abortions Proposed •
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House Approves Abortion Ban 45 to 25
By Bill Harlan
The Rapid City Journal
Thursday 15 February 2007
Pierre - A new abortion ban that would go to a statewide vote in 2008 sailed
through the South Dakota House of Representatives on Wednesday by a vote of
45 to 25.
Now House Bill 1293 goes to the Senate.
Unlike the abortion ban that voters rejected last November, HB1293 has exceptions
for rape, incest and the health of the mother n though opponents of the bill
say the requirements to qualify for those exceptions are too onerous.
Rep. Gordon Howie, R-Rapid City, a sponsor of the measure, led off the half-hour
debate on the House floor.
"The rights that we're discussing are not ours to give. They're
given by our Creator," Howie told House colleagues. "Those rights
are ours to defend. We believe in bringing this bill we're fulfilling
a responsibility to defend those rights on behalf of those who are most innocent
and the most vulnerable."
The most innocent are unborn children, Howie said, and the most vulnerable
are women.
Howie also introduced a page and a half of amendments to the bill, which depart
from the version that state Attorney General Larry Long recommended to a legislative
committee on Monday.
"It looks pretty complicated and convoluted," Rep. Clayton Halverson,
D-Vebelen said.
Howie said he introduced the amendments after "significant consultation"
with Long's office, and the House approved them on a voice vote.
Kate Looby, a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood in South Dakota, North Dakota
and Minnesota, said she was disappointed by the House vote but optimistic the
Senate would reject HB1293. "This bill allows the government to intrude
into the private lives of South Dakotans," she said.
Abortion foes did not win every fight Wednesday.
Three abortion-related bills were killed during state Senate committee hearings.
Senate Bill 171 would have required abortion clinics to post a notice in waiting
rooms and exam rooms that it is against the law for anyone to force or coerce
a woman into having an abortion.
A companion bill, SB172, would have required doctors to read an 11-point "statement
of law" to women before abortions were performed. (For example: "That
the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human
being.")
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 4 to 3 to deny the bills a vote of the
full Senate.
The third bill, HB1296, would have required abortion providers to ask women
if they wanted to see a sonogram of the fetus before the abortion.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee rejected that measure 5 to 2.
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Death Certificates on Abortions Proposed
By Erik Schelzig
The Associated Press
Wednesday 14 February 2007
Nashville, Tennessee - Legislation introduced in Tennessee would require death
certificates for aborted fetuses, which likely would create public records identifying
women who have abortions.
Rep. Stacey Campfield, a Republican, said his bill would provide a way to track
how many abortions are performed. He predicted it would pass in the Republican-controlled
Senate but would have a hard time making it through the Democratic House.
"All these people who say they are pro-life - at least we would
see how many lives are being ended out there by abortions," said Campfield.
The number of abortions reported to the state Office of Vital Records is already
publicly available. The office collects records - but not death certificates
- on abortions and the deaths of fetuses after 22 weeks gestation or weighing
about 1 pound.
The identities of the women who have abortions are not included in those records,
but death certificates include identifying information such as
Social Security numbers.
Campfield's bill, introduced Monday, would give abortion providers 10 days
following an "induced termination of a pregnancy" to file a death
certificate.
House Judiciary Chairman Rob Briley, a Democrat, called Campfield's proposal
"the most preposterous bill I've seen" in an eight-year legislative
career.
"It is totally inconsistent with everything the law contemplates as it
relates to anything close to that subject," he said.
The anti-abortion group Tennessee Right to Life has not yet taken a position
on the death certificate bill, said spokeswoman Myra Simons. But she said the
organization applauds the sponsors' efforts to "draw attention to the way
abortion is handled in Tennessee."
Keri Adams, vice president of
Planned Parenthood in Tennessee, on Wednesday called the proposal an attempt
to terrorize frightened and vulnerable women who are seeking abortion.
"We certainly hope the Tennessee Legislature doesn't invest too much energy
in this bill," she said. "We think it's clearly a violation of privacy,
and potentially illegal concerning HIPAA regulations."
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