Bill to Restrict Abortions for Minors Passes

A controversial bill to require most unmarried minors to get parental consent before having abortions was narrowly approved Wednesday by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

After an emotional hearing, the bill by Sen. Joseph B. Montoya (D-Whittier) was sent to the Senate floor on a 5-3 vote, the exact majority required. A full-scale debate is expected on the Senate floor. A similar measure passed the Senate in 1980 and died in the Assembly, which historically has rejected anti-abortion legislation.

At the same time, the committee rejected on a 3-3 vote a second measure to require physicians to show every pregnant woman considering an abortion a sonogram image of her fetus. A sonogram, using ultrasound, produces a shadowy image.

Under the bill by Sen. John Doolittle (R-Citrus Heights), doctors who refused to do the procedure would have been charged with unprofessional conduct and subjected to disciplinary action.

‘Greatest Wonder’

Montoya said that parents have both the right and the responsibility to be involved in their minor daughters’ decisions relating to the “greatest wonder of the world,” the birth of a human life.

Testifying in support of the measure, Tammy Lee Collins of San Diego said she wished that she had been forced to tell her parents before having an abortion at age 14. She said her failure to do so has impaired her relationship with her parents.