Panel of Florida Senate Rejects Abortion Limits : Legislature: Tighter clinic standards is only proposal that appears to have a chance of passage.

Shortly after convening a special session on abortion Tuesday, the Florida Legislature dealt setbacks to four restrictive measures sought by Gov. Bob Martinez in the first test of a U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing states to impose greater limits on abortions.

Amid swirls of demonstrations by anti-abortion and abortion rights advocates competing to gain national momentum on the emotional issue, the Senate Health and Rehabilitative Services Committee voted 9 to 3 to kill three of the four bills containing the governor’s proposals by 8:20 p.m. A fourth bill was defeated on an 8-4 vote 30 minutes later.

One would have prohibited public hospitals from performing abortions or public employees from offering abortion counseling, one of several Missouri restrictions upheld by the Supreme Court in its Webster decision July 3 expanding state regulatory powers.

Another bill would have required that a woman seeking an abortion be counseled on the risks of the procedure and the condition of the fetus--an “informed consent” restriction declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1985 but possibly given new life by the Webster ruling.

The third would have mirrored another part of the Missouri law, barring an abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy if a doctor determined that the fetus could survive outside the womb.

The fourth bill would have created a state center to promote adoption as an alternative to abortion.

Another Martinez proposal, tightening abortion clinic standards, appeared to be the only one that stood a chance of passage in the scheduled four-day session. Key legislators on both sides of the issue struck a deal on the clinic matter Tuesday but then abandoned it, at least temporarily.

Pro-choice Sen. Jeanne Malchon of St. Petersburg, chairman of the Senate Health Care Committee, at first agreed to a modest strengthening of clinic regulations in exchange for a promise by leading anti-abortion Sen. Richard H. Langley of Clermont that no other restrictions would pass the Senate.

However, the deal blew up when anti-abortion groups demanded the chance to press for more meaningful restrictions--and abortion rights groups refused to give Martinez an opportunity to salvage victory in his high-stakes gamble to boost a 1990 reelection bid.

But Martinez’s chief lobbyist, Pete Dunbar, expressed guarded optimism that a clinic regulation measure might emerge.

“Not long ago, everybody said we were going to be gaveled down on everything,” Dunbar said in an interview. “Now we have significant movement from a pro-choice committee chairman.”

Malchon’s committee will vote on several clinic regulation proposals today.

Senate President Bob Crawford and House Speaker Tom Gustafson, both pro-choice Democrats, continued attacking the session as a waste of time but conceded that key committees are closely divided on the clinic regulation issue. Support for ensuring clinic safety grew rapidly after a recent Miami Herald expose described a Miami facility with many botched abortions and an unlicensed physician.

Many legislators said they thought that some other Martinez proposals had been ruled out of bounds by a Florida Supreme Court decision last week. It held that the state’s strict privacy provision in its constitution granted broad protection to women choosing to terminate pregnancy.

The House is waiting to see what the Senate does before moving into action. Many representatives said they hope the Senate would kill all the bills so that no one would have to cast a vote on the politically volatile issue.

Raucous demonstrators--about 10,000 abortion rights and 7,000 anti-abortion, police estimated--staged marches and rallies and swarmed through Capitol corridors, serving notice that other state battlegrounds can expect similar spectacles in the months ahead.

“I believe these legislators realize we are through being lethargic about this issue,” said Pierre Duelz of Ft. Lauderdale at a moonlit anti-abortion rally in the Capitol plaza Monday night. “If they do nothing, we’ll replace them.”

In the waiting room of Martinez’s office Tuesday, several pro-choice demonstrators from Tampa were protesting the position of their former mayor.

“As Florida goes, you’re going to see the nation go,” Mary Kaplan declared. “The eyes of the country are on us.”

PRO-CHOICE CLERICS: Protestant churches have not provided leadership for pro-choice congregants. B1