Cavalierness in Sacramento

Sloppy proofreading in the California Legislature and a doctrinaire governor have combined to threaten women in the state with the loss of a full range of family-planning aid.

First the Legislature debated a mischievous measure that would cut off state family-planning funds to any clinic that promotes, performs or advertises abortions. Its sponsor, state Sen. H. L. Richardson (R-Arcadia), insisted that all he wanted to do was remove any “benefit or gain” from the abortion picture. Critics thought otherwise, arguing that the language could be interpreted to cut off family-planning money to clinics that even advise women that abortion is one of their options in family planning.

The Legislature voted to strike the abortion amendment, but the printer missed the signal and nobody noticed the error until the budget document reached Gov. George Deukmejian. He says that the restrictions are proper. He was within his rights in refusing to clean up the Legislature’s mistake by vetoing the measure. But it was a political decision that could harm not only women for whom abortion is a legal option but also women simply seeking family-planning counseling.

The matter is now in the courts because Planned Parenthood and the Los Angeles Regional Family Planning Council have recognized the restriction for what their attorney called “a mean-spirited, completely punitive measure that does not serve the purpose it’s intended for.” The whole matter could have been avoided. Women in the state should take note of the cavalier fashion in which their basic needs have been treated.