SECTION: METRO; Pg. B04

LENGTH: 606 words

HEADLINE: Abortion Bills Pass Va. House Committee; Measures Would Require Parental Consent and Ban Late-Term Procedures

BYLINE: Lisa Rein, Washington Post Staff Writer

DATELINE: RICHMOND, Feb. 4

BODY:


A House of Delegates committee endorsed two bills today that would restrict abortions, one requiring minors to receive a parent's consent before having an abortion, and another making it a crime to partially deliver a fetus for the purpose of killing it.

The courts committee also approved a bill that would require the state to create guidelines for public schools to prominently post the Ten Commandments and other "historical texts," even as several lawmakers questioned whether the proposal would survive a constitutional challenge.

Lawmakers on the Republican-dominated courts committee approved both bills by wide margins, and they now go to the House floor, where passage is likely. Their fate is less certain in the Senate. A Senate committee killed a bill last year to require schools to post the national motto, "In God We Trust." A close vote is expected on the parental consent bill. House Bill 601, sponsored by Del. Richard H. Black (R-Loudoun), would restrict abortion by expanding Virginia's five-year-old law requiring that girls younger than 18 notify a parent before having the procedure. The bill, approved today by a vote of 16 to 5, would require a minor to show a physician in writing that at least one parent had approved the abortion.

A physician who performed the procedure without that consent could be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable with a $ 500 fine but no jail time.

"In this area, we do move incrementally," Black said. "If we could put this to the people, state by state, abortion would be struck down by the will of the people, but we can't do that."

The other abortion bill, HB 1154, sponsored by Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), revives an attempt to restrict the procedure that opponents call a partial-birth abortion. Marshall called the procedure "infanticide."

In 1998, the General Assembly passed a ban on such abortions, but a year later, a federal court in Alexandria declared the law unconstitutional because it did not provide an exception to protect the health of the mother. Lawmakers approved the bill 14 to 6 today after adding that exception.

The consent bill was opposed by abortion-rights advocates, who said teenagers do not face such restrictions in many other health care decisions.

"A minor, as she approaches delivery, would have the authority to consent to surgery but not to a first-trimester abortion," said Ben Greenberg, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Virginia.

Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) has said he would oppose efforts to further restrict abortion rights beyond the parental notification law and the mandatory 24-hour waiting period the assembly approved last year.

House Bill 161, sponsored by Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter

(R-Prince William) and approved by the committee 12 to 9, would require the state Board of Education to develop guidelines for displaying the commandments, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and portions of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of Virginia.

Lingamfelter had proposed legislation to display the Ten Commandments only, but he amended it to include the secular documents in light of the constitutional separation of church and state.

Opponents said the commandments differ among faiths and do not belong on display in public schools.

"There is no reason to stir up this hornet's nest," said Michael Wolf, a University of Richmond professor, representing a coalition of Jewish organizations. "Do not get in the business of rewriting and posting sacred texts."

Staff writer Michael D. Shear contributed to this report.



LOAD-DATE: February 05, 2002