Anti-Abortion Amendments Force Delay in Assembly’s Vote on Budget

A vote on the $37.5-billion Assembly version of Gov. George Deukmejian’s proposed state budget was delayed Friday when abortion opponents resurrected their virtually annual fight over the use of state money to pay for abortions for low-income women.

Postponement of the budget vote came after abortion foes, catching Democratic leaders shorthanded, added two anti-abortion amendments to the spending program.

The votes on the amendments came with 14 of the Assembly’s 80 members absent at the start of the long Memorial Day weekend. Both the budget and the abortion provisions will be taken up again Tuesday when the lawmakers return.

The Senate also delayed a budget vote until Tuesday because state printers failed to get the upper house’s rival $37.6-billion version published in time.

June 15 Deadline

Both votes are largely procedural. After each house passes its version of the budget, a six-member, two-house conference committee will be convened to reconcile differences between the spending programs and produce a compromise that can be sent to the governor. The Legislature’s deadline to produce a new budget is June 15.

Republicans in the Assembly, with some Democratic support, took advantage of the heavy absenteeism to muscle through the two abortion amendments. Assembly Democrats are expected to try to undo the amendments Tuesday.

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), noting that many of the missing legislators were Democrats who could be counted on to oppose the amendments, claimed the provisions would not have been been adopted if all lawmakers been present to vote.

One amendment contains an outright prohibition against use of state funds for Medi-Cal abortions for poor women. Drafted by Assemblyman Don A. Sebastiani (R-Sonoma), a candidate for state controller, it would prohibit the state controller from making any payments for abortions, even under court order.

Similar Amendments Failed

It is similar to provisions inserted into previous budgets. But the courts consistently have ruled such limitations on abortions, which apply only to the medically needy who need state financial assistance, are unconstitutional.

The second amendment, by Assemblyman Alister McAlister (D-Fremont), also a state controller candidate, would require the Department of Health Services to collect statistics on payments for abortions under Medi-Cal and other medical programs. Information gathered would document the number of abortions performed each year, the age of the mothers, the reason for the operation, where it was performed and other details.

McAlister said such information was necessary to get a complete picture of the extent of abortions in California. Critics argued that the data would simply be used by abortion foes to bolster their cause.

The Sebastiani amendment passed 38 to 26, with eight Democrats joining 30 Republicans to provide the majority. On the McAlister amendment, 31 Republicans teamed with half a dozen Democrats to give it the votes it needed.