Abortion lawsuit bill gets hearing

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- On the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide, Missouri lawmakers considered ways to limit abortions both here and in other states.

A Senate committee heard testimony Wednesday on a bill that would let parents sue anyone who help a minor daughter to have an abortion without their consent.

Since 1979, Missouri law has required that anyone 17 or younger seeking an abortion have the consent of at least one parent or guardian, a court order providing consent or a court order certifying she is mature enough to make her own decision.

The Missouri law was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1983.

But some Missouri teenagers are skirting the law by getting abortions in Illinois, which does not require parental consent.

Samuel Lee, director of Campaign Life Missouri, said parents could use the proposed law to sue the Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Ill., which advertises in St. Louis area phone books that Illinois does not have a parental consent law.

Lee called the advertisements "appalling," adding: "A couple of those lawsuits would get the job done" and stop the clinic from providing abortions to Missouri minors without parental consent.

The Hope Clinic provides abortions to about 300 Missouri teenagers each year, most of whom are accompanied by a parent, said Sally Burgess, the clinic's executive director.

"The teens who do not tell their parents usually have a pretty good reason for that -- they are afraid they are going to be subject to physical or emotional abuse or kicked out of the home" for being pregnant, she said.

If the Missouri proposal were to become law, the Illinois clinic would require Missouri minors seeking an abortion to come with a parent -- essentially abiding by the Missouri law, Burgess said.

State Sen. Ken Jacob, D-Columbia, questioned whether the Missouri proposal would unconstitutionally infringe on the right of Illinois to enforce its own laws.

The bill by Sen. John Loudon, R-Ballwin, also could be used by parents to sue a boyfriend, school counselor or anyone else who provided money or transportation for a minor to get an abortion without parental consent.

Jacob suggested Missourians could sidestep the proposal by taking a bus or taxi to Illinois without telling the driver why they were going there.

No one testified against the bill during the Senate committee hearing.

But Alison Gee, political director of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, submitted written testimony opposing the bill as well as the state's existing parental consent law.