Committee sends anti-abortion bill to debate on House floor

The bill would let parents sue people who help their minor daughters get abortions in violation of the parental consent law.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A minister said Wednesday that legislation allowing lawsuits against those who help teens get around the state's parental consent law for abortions amounts to "a clergy intimidation bill."

But a former abortion clinic employee countered that it would be morally wrong not to involve a parent in such a serious medical decision.

A House committee, as expected, sided Wednesday with those supporting the abortion legislation, sending the centerpiece of a special legislative session to the full chamber for debate by an 8-2 vote.

Chief among the bill's provisions is the ability for parents to sue people who help their minor daughters get abortions in violation of Missouri's parental consent law. Backers say they want to go after people who help teens obtain abortions in Illinois, which has no such law.

Another provision would require doctors who perform abortions to have clinical privileges at a hospital providing obstetrical or gynecological care within 30 miles of where the abortion takes place.

The Rev. Rebecca Turner, executive director of the Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, was among several clergy who came to the Capitol in opposition to the bill. Turner, a minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in St. Louis, said the potential of a lawsuit would frighten clergy and counselors from offering guidance, even on basic health and legal issues, to a minor who accidentally got pregnant.

Her viewpoint was countered by Kathy Sparks, of Granite City, Ill., who worked at an abortion clinic decades ago and said it's wrong not to involve parents in that kind of medical decision. She noted her own daughters need her along to get their ears pierced.

"They have to have me sign off to get earrings, but here they can go down the street to the abortion clinic," she said.

Gov. Matt Blunt called a special session on the legislation after the legislature's majority failed to pass anything during the regular session that ended in May. Blunt and some researchers had concerns that language in a main bill would have harmed stem-cell research in the state.

The special session deals with only a few abortion provisions, and legislative leaders vowed not to let this legislation get caught up in a stem-cell debate.

Some Democrats advocate access to contraception and education as the best way to reduce abortions.

A bill by Sen. Joan Bray, D-St. Louis, would require the state to provide funding for family planning services, ensure that school districts follow state law in teaching sex education and make emergency contraception available to rape victims in hospitals.

"Experience and history shows that what works is education and prevention," Bray said.