Bill To Require Signs At Abortion Clinics Stalls In Committee
Last updated Monday, March 26, 2007 7:59 PM CDT in Topics
By John Lyon
The Morning News
LITTLE ROCK -- A bill that requires abortion clinics to post signs advising patients they cannot be forced to have an abortion failed to clear a Senate committee Monday.
Senate Bill 871 by Sen. Sharon Trusty, R-Russellville, failed in a voice vote in the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee.
The bill requires any facility where abortions are performed to post a sign stating, in at least 3/4-inch boldface type, "Notice: By law, we cannot perform an abortion on you unless we have your freely given and voluntary consent. It is against the law to perform an abortion on you against your will."
The sign would have to be posted in all waiting rooms, consultation rooms and admission areas used by patients on whom abortions are performed.
Also under the bill, an abortion could not be performed on a minor unless the minor certified in writing that she was informed by the attending physician that she could not be forced to have an abortion.
The bill set a $1,000-per-day fine for noncompliance and created grounds for a lawsuit by any person who suffered as a result of a facility's failure to comply.
Testifying for the bill, Donna Clifton of Little Rock said when she went to an abortion clinic 25 years ago, her voice was not heard.
"When they asked if I wanted counseling, the question was directed to me, but my boyfriend answered 'No,' and they immediately dismissed me. They did not care what I wanted or what I felt," she said.
Clifton said she had a hysterectomy three years later and will never have bear a child.
Little Rock attorney Bettina Brownstein, who represents Planned Parenthood, testified that the bill is vaguely worded, making it unclear what facilities would be required to post the signs and who would be able to file suit if the signs are not posted.
Brownstein said state law already requires informed consent for an abortion and provides for enforcement of that requirement.
"This will have a chilling effect, obviously, on abortion providers, and that will be another ground to challenge this bill, if it becomes law, in a court of law," she said.
Sen. Percy Malone, D-Arkadelphia, a pharmacist, said he was concerned the bill might be interpreted to apply to pharmacies that dispense morning-after pills or intrauterine devices.
Sen. Bill Pritchard, R-Elkins, who presented the bill to the committee, said after the meeting that the committee apparently had a problem with the sections of the bill concerning penalties and civil remedies.
"I think if we remove those two sections, and only leave in there the sections that they have to post the sign and they have to inform the minor that they cannot be forced to have an abortion, then it should pass," he said.
Another bill filed this session, House Bill 2768 by Rep. Sid Rosenbaum, R-Little Rock, requires a doctor who performs abortions to inform patients that they cannot be forced to have an abortion. Rosenbaum's bill does not require sign postings, set fines or address civil liability.
House Bill 2768 passed the House by a 69-20 vote last week and has been referred to the Senate public health panel.
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