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Monday, January 28, 2013

The Ladies Dept. of Whoops: State Republicans Admit Bill That Outlawed Abortion was a "Serious Mistake"

Posted by Cienna Madrid on Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 12:30 PM

State Senate Republicans are resubmitting a teen abortion restriction bill today after it was revealed that the bill also completely repealed Washington state's abortion laws.

SB 5156, also known as the parental notification bill, would require that minors (or rather, their physicians) notify their parents or guardians at least 48 hours before seeking an abortion. However, as I reported last Friday, the bill also repealed two important laws that make abortion legal in our state.

"The bill does indeed contain a serious mistake, the result of a drafting error at the code reviser’s office," wrote Republican caucus spokesman, Eric Campbell, who adds that a substitute version of the bill was prepared over the weekend and will be available later today. (Gross error aside, I still find the bill to be problematic.)

Here's something I didn't know: Under the state constitution, the subjects of all submitted bills have to be expressed in their titles. Campbell points to the title of SB 5156—parental notification—as proof that the bill was never intended to place a ban on abortion.

"Legislators trust the code reviser’s office to get all the language and legal citations right; however, mistakes can happen given how thousands of bills are drafted each year (more specifically, within a matter of weeks)," Campbell writes. "That said, this drafting error is obviously as unfortunate as they come."

Yep. Pretty much.

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This is the 'Philosophical Majorities' MO for running bills - burying the details and hoping no one will notice.

They're doing the same thing with an "Installment Loans" bill designed - SB 5312 - designed to circumvent reforms to payday loans that have been passed by Democrats in recent years. This bill was good enough to trick several Democratic legislators to sign onto it until the details were brought to their attention. They have since withdrawn their support.

Posted by SuperSteve on January 28, 2013 at 8:35 PM

It still doesn't change the fact that this will cause big problems for femals who are least able to handle them. If a girl is not telling her parents that she is pregnant, there is probably a very good reason why. Forcing girls to tell their parents, will only create more teen moms. And for many of these girls, it will make it near impossible for them to make their lives better in the future.

This is just another example of a non problem that doesn't need fixing in the first place. Like all those voter fraud laws that popped up in red states.

Posted by SeattleKim on January 28, 2013 at 1:55 PM

They want to enforce their oppression against women here like they are in Mississippi. Fuck them! Defeat this bill!

Posted by Pope Peabrain on January 28, 2013 at 1:11 PM

Bullshit!

Posted by auntie jim on January 28, 2013 at 1:04 PM

Cienna, thanks for the good work on this. I'm pretty sure they knew what they were doing in the first place.

Yes, to keep in mind, the ballot title or bill title has to express the subject. It has to be something a voter or legislature can clearly discern. (Eyman had on ballot measure turned back on this issue over his use of the word "tax" in the title.)

Posted by westello on January 28, 2013 at 1:03 PM