Governor hopefuls split on abortion issues

Three of the five leading candidates for governor believe the state should pass new laws requiring that parents be notified before a minor is allowed to have an abortion, and would favor a law prohibiting abortions late in a term of pregnancy.

Republican Linda Lingle said she supports a woman's right to choose whether to have an abortion, but as governor would favor a bill requiring that girls under 18 obtain parental consent before undergoing an abortion. Parental consent is required for any other medical procedure for a minor, and should be required for abortions as well, she said.

"I think it's a parental right to know any time their children are operated on," she said. Lingle said there "has to be a way" to navigate cases where the girl seeking the abortion is a victim of incest or abuse by a family member, but did not say exactly how that would be done.

That position puts Lingle at odds with Democrats Ed Case and Mazie Hirono, who oppose parental consent laws. The issue has been debated at the Legislature recently, with a Senate committee approving a parental notification bill in 2001. The committee later shelved the bill.

Case said he believes most parental consent laws are actually part of a larger effort to erode abortion-rights laws. "I think the goal is not so much to enhance parental consent as it is to unconstitutionally restrict a woman's choice," he said.

"My view is we cannot restrict the relationship between a pregnant minor and her medical provider by interjecting a system requiring them to go to their parents first," he said.

Hirono said that ideally, girls who are pregnant will seek help from their parents, but in some cases they may be subject to "child abuse, violence, getting kicked out of the home." There is also evidence that a parental notification requirements may also prompt some girls to seek abortions performed illegally, she said.

Hirono said she considers abortion "such a fundamental right" that the state should not intrude.

"Frankly, the kind of situations where the minor can talk to the parent, sure, that's what you want to foster, and where those relationships exist, I think the minor does talk to the families," she said. "But it's in those very situations where the minor can't, those are the times when she would be subjected to abuse, violence."

Democrat D.G. "Andy" Anderson said he has a long record of voting for parental notification measures in the state Senate, and would favor such a bill as governor.

"That child is my responsibility, that child is my offspring, that child is underage and I have every right to be consulted for a medical procedure like that," Anderson said.

Republican John Carroll said as governor he would favor both a new parental notification law, and another new law requiring that women considering an abortion go through a state-sponsored education program about the procedure.

The idea is that the women "really understand not only what they're doing but what the potential post-traumatic stress disorders are that occur after they've gone through an abortion process," Carroll said.

If elected governor, Lingle also said she would sign a bill banning so-called partial-birth abortions, in which a fetus is removed intact sometime after the first trimester.

Lawmakers in more than half the states have attempted to ban the procedure, but the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts have ruled those laws unconstitutional.

In Hawai'i, the state House in 1998 approved a bill to revoke the license of any physician who performs an abortion after the 19th week of pregnancy, but the measure failed in the Senate.

"I just don't think it's ever required or medically necessary, and I think it's something I just cannot support," Lingle said.

Carroll also said he supports a ban on late-term abortions, but said he expects a new state law will be unnecessary because the federal government is moving to ban the procedure.

The U.S. House last month approved a ban on late-term abortions, although it is not clear how the measure will fare in the Senate. President Bush has said he supports the measure.

Anderson said he does not have strong feelings on the issue, but is leaning toward supporting a bill to ban the procedure. "I just think it's kind of late. I'm just not comfortable with the timing of that," he said.

Case said virtually every state law passed or proposed to ban such late-term abortions has been ruled unconstitutional. While it is easy for politicians to say they will pass such laws, the constitution requires that such abortions be allowed when necessary to protect the life or the health of the mother, he said.

Hirono said she does not believe any such late-term abortions have been performed in Hawai'i, but said as governor she would veto any proposal to ban the procedure.

"Who could support such a procedure?" she said. "However, all of the partial-birth abortion legislation that has come down the pike has really jeopardized a woman's right to chose other kinds of abortions, so I think it really is a wedge issue for the anti-abortion forces to really push for a prohibition."

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