Copyright 2002 The Tribune Co. Publishes The Tampa Tribune
The Tampa Tribune
May 7, 2002, Tuesday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NATION/WORLD, Pg. 10
LENGTH: 537 words
HEADLINE:
Abortion Views And Bankruptcy Law
BODY:
For five years now, Congress has
tried to revise the nation's bankruptcy laws, and negotiators are one amendment
shy of resolving their differences, passing the legislation and sending it to
President Bush.
The problem is the subject of that amendment: abortion.
The Senate bill includes a provision aimed at punishing protesters who
harass abortion doctors and their patients. It would bar debtors convicted of
blocking the entrance to a clinic from seeking bankruptcy protection to keep
from paying court-imposed fines. Senate Democrats, led by New York's Charles
Schumer, demand that the provision, which at Republican insistence doesn't
contain the words "abortion clinic," although that is its aim, be included in
the final draft. But House Republicans who are abortion
opponents threaten to scuttle the bill.
The bankruptcy
legislation is too important to be derailed by an extraneous issue. Yes, there
have been cases in which abortion foes have filed for
bankruptcy and erased debts that included fines imposed because
of abortion clinic protests. Most notably, Operation Rescue
founder Randall Terry vowed when he filed for bankruptcy in 1998 that he would
avoid paying fines "to those who would use my money to promote the killing of
the unborn."
But to punish a narrow class of people involved in
nonviolent protest seems to us to raise significant constitutional issues.
We agree with Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., a House conferee who worries
Schumer's amendment would penalize men and women involved in peaceful protest.
He told The New York Times, however, that he would consider a compromise that
would deny bankruptcy protection to those whose debts arise from "willful and
wanton" misconduct or criminal violations.
Such a compromise makes
sense. After all, Schumer himself observed that there is broad consensus on both
sides of the abortion debate to disavow violence and intimidation as protest
tactics. Where violence is endorsed and criminal citations follow, a denial of
bankruptcy protection to keep from paying fines is not inappropriate.
Furthermore, the conferees decided that homeowners in debtor's haven
states like Florida will be penalized if their debts were incurred by financial
fraud or in violation of securities laws - surely either willful and wanton or
criminal actions.
The "Millionaire's Loophole'
In Florida,
Texas, Iowa, Kansas and South Dakota, a debtor's principal residence is beyond
the reach of creditors. But the conferees agreed to put a stop to the so-called
millionaire's loophole in which the rich can pour millions into fancy houses and
escape their creditors' grasp.
Under the new legislation, the equity in
a principal residence would be capped at $125,000 for those
filing who have lived in the state for less than 30 months, owe the debts
because of fraud or violations of the securities laws or have, in the past five
years, recklessly caused a death or serious injury.
The legislation is
intended to encourage responsibility by requiring those who can pay back some of
their debts to do so. The abortion issue should not be allowed
to kill the legislation. The billions lost each year to
bankruptcies eventually cost us all.
NOTES: OUR OPINION
LOAD-DATE:
May 8, 2002 
