March '98 State Abortion Policy Brief

Awhile back, Chuck Colson opined that America could not continue to call herself civilized if she insisted on performing the brutal "procedure" known as Partial Birth Abortion (PBA). He said any nation that permits it is a barbaric nation. The following briefing will show you how life was defeated by the new barbarians in Washington State and what you can do about it.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Prior to the second session of the fifty-fifth Washington State Legislature, representatives of the Pro-Family Coalition (a loose collaborative effort of conservative groups) received assurances from House Speaker Clyde Ballard and Senate Majority Leader Dan McDonald that pro-life legislation would be moved through the legislative process to a vote. The looming veto by Governor Locke necessitated the priority bill -- the one to outlaw PBA (House bill 2395) -- would have to be referred to the people for their vote and it was agreed the vote would be taken with a referendum to the people early in the session.

Political struggles ensued and the vote was delayed until February 16th when Representative Phil Dyer (a Republican from district 5 in eastern King County) offered an amendment (#974) removing the substance from the original bill. The substitute language simply restated the current statute which has been ineffective against partial-birth abortions. Furthermore, Representative Dyer's amendment stripped the referendum clause from the bill so that Governor Locke's veto could not be avoided!

In a desperate attempt to reclaim at least some substance, the chief sponsor of the ban, Representative Marc Sterk (R-4) of Spokane, offered a "perfecting amendment" to Dyer's gutting amendment. It did not, however, put the referendum clause back in the bill (for bypassing the Governor), but it did replace some of the worthless language (the best Rep. Sterk could do with available House support). The Sterk perfecting amendment (#999) passed 55-43 followed by the, now modified, Dyer amendment -- no referendum.

Feelings of disgust, defeat and contempt for Republican representatives who sold out their Party and their Principles, were manifest as I phoned key pro-life leaders for two days in a, seemingly, vain attempt to revive the effort. The very idea that legislators representing the Republican Party-with its long-standing, pro-life platform -- would support infanticide, was difficult to comprehend.

Nonetheless, by week's end, hopes for reviving the bill with the referendum restored were running high once again as pressure was brought to bear from the grassroots and the following week the Senate Law & Justice Committee re-inserted the referendum clause. Opposition forces pulled out all the stops, lobbying Senators with extraordinary zeal while pro-life groups did the same. When the dust settled, eight Republican Senators had deserted their Party in favor of barbarism. On the other hand, only one Democrat came to the aid of the unborn children, Senator James Hargrove.

Many courageous activists worked their hearts out to stop the infanticide through the legislative process this year. Many of them were legislators. Special thanks is due to Bernadine Rogstad, Whatcom County Republican Central Committee Chairwoman. Bernie worked creatively, tirelessly and passionately to bring to account those Republican legislators and Party officials who tried to turn their backs on this issue.

The legislators that worked to permit the PBA proceedure to remain legal are listed at the bottom of this briefing.

THE GOOD NEWS

The Committee to Stop Infanticide has filed an initiative to the people with the Secretary of State in Olympia! Under normal circumstances, the prospects of gathering enough signatures by the July 2nd deadline would be overwhelming. But, these are not normal circumstances. Nearly everyone we've asked has been extremely zealous to stop the killing.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

First, contact the campaign, Committee to Stop Infanticide, by E-mail <StopInfanticide@juno.com> or regular mail at: 19030 Lenton Pl. SE, Suite #601, Monroe, WA 98272, to locate your area coordinator for petitions and plans.

Second, help organize your church and get petitions to the members.

Finally, send a donation for the substantial expenses.

Most importantly -- Don't forget to pray. It'll take a lot of that, too.

Senators to Remember:
All the Democrat Senators (except James Hargrove) voted to strip the Senate Law and Justice Committee Amendment from the PBA Ban bill, remove the referendum and leave it powerless to become law. Joining them in their infamy were the following eight Republican Senators: Bill Finkbeiner (R-45), Patricia Hale (R-8), Jim Horn (R-41), Bob McCaslin (R-4), Irv Newhouse (R-15), Eugene Prince (R-9), George Sellar (R-12), Shirley Winsley (R-28).

Representatives to Remember:
The vote to reinstate the substance of the bill was opposed by the following representatives: Anderson, Applewick, Ballasiotes, Butler, Chopp, Cody, Cole, Constantine, Conway, Cooke, Cooper, Costa, Dickerson, Dunshee, Eickmeyer, Fisher, Gardner, Gombosky, Grant, Hankins, Hatfield, Kastama, Keiser, Kenney, Kessler, Lantz, Linville, Mason, Morris, Murray, Ogden, Poulsen, Quall, Reams, Regala, Romero, Scott, Skinner, Sommers, Tokuda, Veloria, Wolfe, and Wood. Representative Phil Dyer (R-5) sponsored the amendment to unhinge the PBA Ban, but there were six others who sponsored it with him. They were; Mike Wensman (R-41), Renee Radcliff (R-21), Brian Thomas (R-5), Don Carlson, (R-49), Mary Ann Mitchell (R-30), and Paul Zellinsky (R-23).

Prepared by Sidney Turbyfill, Policy Analyst, WTV Coalition

April '98 State Abortion Policy Brief
Abortion Policy Page
Bill & Issue Watch - State
Bill & Issue Watch - Federal