Legislation to affect sex offenders, minors seeking abortions
By Marjon Rostami and Yashoda Sampath
The Daily Texan
No more Viagra for sex offenders using Medicare, according to a new state law that will go into effect today, along with some 755 other laws that affect everything from abortion restrictions to underage drinking to gun control. "Giving sex-enhancing drugs like Viagra to a convicted sex offender is like giving a can of gasoline to an arsonist and then lighting the match," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a press release.
Some laws are more obscure, making the slogan "Proud to be the home of President George W. Bush" part of every "Welcome to Texas" highway sign and Dutch ovens the official state cookware. In the past, a female under the age of 18 was required to notify her parent of an abortion. But the new law calls for written parental consent and a state-approved form, which is not expected to be available until spring 2006. Under a 2003 law that bans abortions after the first 26 weeks, the parental consent law could send Texas doctors to death row. If a doctor performs an abortion and fails to obtain parental consent during the third trimester, he or she could face capital murder charges. "This legislation was strictly confined to giving parents the right to consent when a minor is considering termination of pregnancy and also to prevent late-term abortions," said Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville. "There were no discussions about the death penalty during our legislative discussions of this issue, so that was certainly not the intent." NARAL Pro-Choice Texas opposes the law, calling the possibility of charge for capital murder "quite a little twist." "This is what happens when we rush to score political points on an issue as important as women's health care," said Sarah Wheat, executive director for NARAL Pro-Choice Texas. As for the death penalty itself, jurors and judges have the new option of sentencing defendants to life without parole. Prior to the new law, a life sentence usually meant parole after 40 years. Underage drinking was another focus of the 79th Legislature. Under a new law, any adults caught serving alcohol to minors will not only face fines, but will also have their driver's licenses suspended for six months. "It's been interesting over the past few years, because sellers and servers of alcohol have been doing a good job, but the majority of alcohol in young people's hands now [is being] supplied by adults and has been a real problem in terms of DUIs and binge drinking, and hopefully this'll be an effective sanction," said bill co-author Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo. But people of legal age will now be able to buy beer and wine at outdoor events starting at 10 a.m. on Sundays, instead of at noon. Some of the other new laws include: raising jury pay from $6 to $40 after the first day of jury duty and banning newly licensed teenagers from using cell phones for the first six months of driving. Another law reinterprets gun statutes to allow handgun owners to leave weapons in vehicles without a concealed-weapons license.
| 
