Abortion debate could define session
By Mark Lisheron
Cox News Service
AUSTIN, Texas — Some lawmakers are wondering if conservative Republicans will take the lead in a national attack on the legal abortion guarantees in Roe v. Wade in the upcoming 79th legislative session.
The consensus among several legislators and observers of the abortion issue is that anti-abortion groups will build on a past pattern of seeking incremental changes in existing law by requiring minors to obtain parental consent for abortions. But — because representatives of prominent anti-abortion groups have said parental consent is not on their agenda for this session — some believe a more direct attack on abortion rights might be in the offing at the state level. Members of the Republican party have pinpointed abortion as a key issue defining the party's majority leadership in the House and Senate in the upcoming session. The issue is already seen as crucial in a potential race for governor between the anti-abortion Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who supports abortion rights with some restrictions. Observers are watching to see if the state's Republican leadership, taking President Bush's recent victory to mean a victory for conservative social values, chooses an aggressive or a cautious legislative posture on abortion. One option is for the Texas legislature to debate a bill similar to Michigan's Legal Birth Definition Act, which will take effect March 30. Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm vetoed the bill in late 2003, only to be overridden by a petition of more than 400,000 people calling for a legislative vote that cannot be vetoed. Pro-abortion rights groups have said they intend to challenge the law in federal court. The Michigan law grants legal protection to a fetus when any part of it is outside a woman's body. Kimberly Ward, an abortion law specialist for NARAL Pro-Choice America in Washington, D.C. said the law is a challenge to the 1973 decision that legalized abortion because it essentially defines when the life of the fetus begins, something the Supreme Court of the United States deliberately did not do in Roe v. Wade. "It wouldn't surprise me if someone introduced a bill like that (in Texas)," Rep. Frank Corte Jr., R-San Antonio, said last week. Corte said he does not intend to be the lawmaker taking on Roe v. Wade. "I haven't heard of any member wanting to do it, but there are a lot of possibilities out there," Corte said. "I'm not sure what kind of success you could have bumping up against Roe v. Wade, not that I'm saying I'm against it." No abortion-related bills have been pre-filed so far, but given the recent record of successful anti-abortion legislation in Texas, observers believe Texas legislators will see several pieces of legislation in the upcoming session. The 2003 session produced a requirement, authored by Corte, that women wait 24 hours after requesting an abortion to have the procedure and that doctors give women an information packet that includes health warnings about abortion. The Legislature in that session also conferred the legal status of an individual on fetuses. The murder of a pregnant woman, for example, could result in two murder charges under the law. Texas currently requires minors to notify a parent before getting an abortion, though not to acquire consent. With Republicans firmly in control of the Legislature and every statewide office, debate has already begun on several social issues that are important to many conservatives and national Republicans. One lawmaker has proposed a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, which is already outlawed by state law. And on Friday, Hutchison said state leaders should work with Gov. Rick Perry and the Legislature to develop a stem-cell research policy that keeps Texas from being "left in the dust by California." The federal government limits funding for research on stem cells that came from human embryos. But California — backed by moderate Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — will begin supporting such research. But observers say the bellwether issue will be abortion. John Colyandro, executive director of the Texas Conservative Coalition, believes some abortion foes will try to champion the parental consent issue, given the history of lawmakers taking incremental steps to limit abortion since Roe v. Wade in 1973. Colyandro said conservatives in Texas consider abortion and gay marriage the two most important social issues and said they will undoubtedly be addressed next year. "I would expect debate on consent because it is the next logical step," Colyandro said. "The real question is not whether you take a step, but how big a step to take." Some have misinterpreted Bush's reelection as an open invitation for conservative state legislators to move ahead quickly on social issues, including abortion, Colyandro said. "Regardless of where conservatives want to go, I think culturally and politically the climate is best expressed by the President," he said. "An outright ban on abortion is not feasible in the cultural and political environment today, however desirable that outright ban might be." Texas Right to Life, an anti-abortion group based in Houston, however, will not take an active role in pushing for parental consent. Surveys done by Texas Right to Life have shown no significant reductions in the number of abortions performed in states that have moved from notification to consent, Stacey Emick, legislative director for the group, said. At a recent meeting, a coalition of anti-abortion groups agreed overwhelmingly not to direct their efforts to parental consent. "From a practical standpoint, we don't think it would be worth all the work and all of the political capital that would be spent in trying to get it passed," Emick said. Instead, Texas Right to Life intends to focus its efforts on closing what it describes as loopholes in the 24-hour waiting period bill. The group also plans to push for laws that would provide penalties for people who coerce minors into having abortions and require that an adult accompanying a minor to an abortion procedure provide proof of parenthood, Emick said. Emick did not rule out some sort of larger challenge to Roe v. Wade, but did not want to discuss specific strategies for the upcoming session. If anti-abortion groups sit out the efforts to push for parental consent, it would mark a departure in strategy, according to Sarah J. Wheat, director of public affairs for NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, based in Austin. Wheat said she thinks anti-abortion groups would want to build on recent successes, particularly in the last session. "We think they're feeling very powerful, very much in the driver's seat and that they'd want to take it up a notch with parental consent," Wheat said. Republican leadership so far is saying little that hasn't already been said about the issue. Representatives for Gov. Rick Perry and House Speaker Tom Craddick would not comment or speculate on potential legislation. When asked about the possibility of new abortion legislation, Kate Linkous, an aide to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, issued this response: "Lt. Gov. Dewhurst, like most Texans, is pro-life and he consistently supports legislation that protects the lives of the vulnerable in Texas, children, the frail, the elderly and the unborn." Overreaching on abortion could also have reverberations in the 2006 gubernatorial race, should it pit an anti-abortion governor against someone like Hutchison, said State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio. Wentworth — who defiantly describes himself at the only pro-abortion rights Republican in the Texas Senate — said Perry misreads Texas Republicans if he thinks they are as conservative as he is. Wentworth agrees with Hutchison, who has said she believes a substantial majority of Texans, not just Republicans, support a woman's right to choose. By the same token, Wentworth was forced into the most expensive and closest race of his Senate career two years ago when the Republican leadership ran a challenger against him in the primary. His opponent, John Shields, ran largely on one issue — abortion, Wentworth said. As abortion goes, so goes the Republican Party here in Texas, he said. The shift to the right distresses Wentworth. "Why has my party been taken over by right wing, reactionary members," Wentworth said. "I think it's because of political fear and the desire not to be opposed in a Republican primary."
Mark Lisheron writes for the Austin American-Statesman.
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