Reproductive freedom news最新文献

On September 29, 1997, mixed-record Governor George Pataki (R) signed a bill that bans female genial mutilation (FGM) from being performed on minor females and establishes a campaign to educate the communities that traditionally use FGM about the "health risks and emotional trauma inflicted by such practices." The measure, AB 3379, which is scheduled to take effect 45 days after the signing date, passed the Assembly on July 2 by 145-0 and was approved in the Senate by 55-0. AB 3379 would only allow such a procedure to be used by a licensed medical practitioner if it is "necessary to the health of the person on whom it is performed" or it is performed "for medical purposes" associated with labor or childbirth. Individuals accused of performing FGM would be charged with a class E felony, which is punishable by up to 1 year in prison.

A bill prohibiting the use of state funds to pay for state employees' health benefits related to "nontherapeutic abortions" passed the House on September 9 by a vote of 60-34. The measure, HB 395, defines a "nontherapeutic abortion" as a procedure performed when the life of the mother would not be endangered by carrying the pregnancy to term; the bill was amended to exempt victims of rape and incest from the funding restriction. Under HB 395, the state would pay for benefit plans that allow state employees to purchase an optional rider for abortion coverage. Also on September 9, the House passed HB 421 by a vote of 66-28. The measure amends Ohio's informed consent law for abortion by requiring a physician, but not necessarily the same physician who will perform the procedure, to meet with the patient in person and in a private setting 24 hours prior to the procedure. Just before the vote was taken, an amendment was offered and approved 68-26 which changes Ohio's parental notification law to parental consent. Both bills have been referred to the Senate for consideration.

On March 20, the House voted 295-136 in favor of HR 1122, "The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1997." As a result of a last-minute substitution, the bill that was approved is identical to HR 1833, the legislation that passed the House and Senate last year but failed to muster enough votes to override President Clinton's veto (see RFN V/8). HR 1122 would prohibit a physician from using the method--which, as described, suggests but does not accurately define the abortion procedure known as intact dilation and evacuation--unless a woman's life is endangered and no other procedure would suffice. Violators would be penalized with a fine and/or up to two years in prison. In addition, the bill provides grounds on which a woman's husband (or, if she is under 18, her parents) may obtain relief in a civil suit. The substitute bill came in place of HR 929, which passed the House Judiciary Committee on March 12 (see RFN VI/5). With minor differences, that measure also targeted the abortion procedure known as intact dilation and evacuation, and it, too, was vague enough to outlaw other second-trimester abortion methods. With the change, anti-choice leaders in Congress appear to be holding members who oppose the ban, and the president, politically accountable for maintaining their position in the face of a renewed discussion of the number of such procedures performed. Five representatives--Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Martin Frost (D-TX), Sue Kelly (R-NY), Christopher Shays (R-CT), and Peter Visclosky (D-IN)--succumbed and voted in favor of a ban after opposing it last year. With or without their switch, the margin of victory is sufficient to override the veto promised by President Clinton. But while the equivalent bill in the Senate, S 6, is likely to also be approved, it is believed that its proponents are several votes shy off a veto-proof margin. S 6 is currently under consideration in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

With a 53-46 vote on February 25, the Senate approved a resolution to speed up the release of funding to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for its overseas family planning programs. The resolution, which had been passed by the House on February 13 (see RFN VI/2), will make money budgeted for fiscal year 1997 available on March 1, 4 months earlier than originally scheduled. Under the omnibus budget bill approved at the end of September 1996, funding was to have been withheld until July 1--a full 9 months into the fiscal year--unless President Clinton made a finding that the delay was harming the functioning of the US family planning program. Based on a report from USAID, which found that the delay would cause at least 17 programs around the world to suspend their services and result in significant and permanent damage to US population-control efforts, President Clinton issued the finding in support of moving up the release of funds. The Senate did not consider a House-passed provision that would have barred family planning programs that receive US money from providing abortions, even if they paid for the procedures through other sources of funding.