The measure requiring physicians to notify parents before performing abortions on minors and approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee last month was reconsidered and killed yesterday.
Five of the nine Judiciary Committee members petitioned Chairman Brian Kanno to pull the bill for reconsideration after an attorney for Family Planning Centers of Hawai‘i said it was unconstitutional.
Yesterday’s vote kills the bill for this session.
"It’s a very unfortunate thing that we’re moving to take the issue off the table without the opportunity for the community to really understand what it is we’re discussing," said Kanno, D-20th (‘Ewa Beach, Makakilo, Kapolei), who voted against both reconsidering and killing the bill.
Family Planning attorney Louise Ing questioned a provision allowing minors from abusive homes to seek judicial waivers. It did not include deadlines in which an appeal of the dismissal of a minor’s petition must be heard or decided, which she said runs afoul of Supreme Court decisions.
"We are of the opinion that there are very serious federal and Hawai‘i state constitutional concerns with this bill because it infringes on a minor’s right to privacy, the right to privacy that includes a minor’s right to make decisions about very highly personal matters such as reproductive rights," Ing said.
Sen. Sam Slom, R-8th (Wai‘alae Iki, Hawai‘i Kai), criticized lawmakers for killing the bill. "The thing that really disturbs me most is the action that we have to take today completely and totally undermines parents."
