ABORTION VOTE: GRIFFIN PLAN GETS MIXED REVIEW

Missouri House Speaker Bob Griffin's proposal to place the abortion issue in the hands of the voters is getting mixed reviews from area legislators.

In his opening speech to House members Wednesday, Griffin proposed letting voters choose between two constitutional amendments: one protecting abortion rights and another ending or severely restricting them.

"I have been in favor of that for years," said state Rep. Dennis Ziegenhorn, D-Sikeston. "I think he has come up with an excellent idea."

On the other hand, David Schwab, R-Jackson, said that abortion measures have been introduced over the years by lawmakers from both parties but have never made it to the House floor for a vote.

Schwab suggested abortion bills, both pro and con, should be debated and voted upon in the legislature first rather than placing the issue before voters in the form of constitutional amendments.

Schwab maintained most state lawmakers want to debate the abortion issue. "I would say our legislature actually leans toward the pro-life position," he said.

He estimated that of 800 constituents who responded to his survey last year, 70 percent were opposed to abortion.

"It is certainly an issue that we (lawmakers) have had a lot of input on from the people on both sides," said Schwab.

State Rep. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau, declined to comment Thursday, saying she had not had time to consider Griffin's plan.

But Ziegenhorn said of the election proposal, "I feel this is the fairest way of deciding this issue."

Ziegenhorn said, however, that an election won't keep the losing side, whether anti-abortion or abortion rights, from continuing their advocacy efforts.

"It's such a hot issue and it's a moral issue," he observed.

"I don't think it will stop the side that loses from trying to get back in, whichever side losses. But it is going to set a goal of how we should live in Missouri with a majority of people who go vote," said Ziegenhorn.

He said that in the Sikeston area, the constituents he hears from are generally opposed to abortions.

Ziegenhorn said he believes anti-abortion supporters in the past have favored the idea of putting the issue to a statewide vote.

But he said that while "pro-life people are very vocal," they may be "surprised at the freedom-of-choice people that are out there."

Putting the issue to a vote gives all Missouri voters a chance to be heard, said Ziegenhorn. "This is really the opportunity for the silent majority to come out."

Ziegenhorn said he has cast pro-life votes since being elected to the House 12 years ago because he believes "that has been the wishes of my district."

But he said that if a majority of his constituents voted for abortion rights, he would follow suit.

"I don't have any problem with voting with the will of my constituents," insisted Ziegenhorn.

He conceded that it's disappointing that generally a minority of voters decide election issues. But he maintained that if the abortion issue were put to a vote, voter turnout would be large.

On another abortion matter, the landlords of a building housing the St. Louis area clinic of Dr. Bolivar Escobedo have filed a lawsuit over $109,000 in back rent.

The lawsuit is the latest in legal trouble for Escobedo, whose suburban St. Louis clinic has been the target of frequent anti-abortion protests.

He also is the target of disciplinary proceedings by the State Board of Healing Arts, which could lead to the revocation of his license.

He is accused of misconduct and negligence regarding abortions he performed in Cape Girardeau and St. Louis.

The St. Louis area clinic, Women's Health Center Inc. in Manchester, has been operating for 17 years. Landlords Alfred and Eva Fleischer filed a lawsuit Wednesday, seeking Escobedo's eviction for non-payment of rent on his clinic for the last 18 months.

On Wednesday, another tenant in the building said that workers had removed all equipment from Escobedo's office and a sign had been put on the door telling his employees and patients that he had been evicted.

But a spokeswoman who answered a Southeast Missourian reporter's telephone call to the clinic Thursday morning said the office was still open.

"We are open and seeing patients," she said. "This (report of the clinic's closing) is a back stabbing tactic of the landlord and grossly incorrect."

Escobedo could not be reached for comment Thursday. The spokeswoman at the clinic said Escobedo had returned to Peru because of a "medical family emergency."

"He won't be back in the office until Monday," she said.

In addition to the St. Louis area clinic, Escobedo had also operated the Women's Health Center in Cape Girardeau.

But the spokeswoman for the St. Louis area clinic said no abortions had been performed at the Cape Girardeau facility since 1989.

The latest Cape Girardeau telephone directory lists a local number for the Women's Health Center, 891 N. Kingshighway. But a reporter who called that number Thursday was instructed by a telephone recording that the number had been changed. The new number is that of Escobedo's St. Louis area clinic.

In 1986, the state legislature passed a law requiring physicians who perform outpatient abortions to have hospital privileges.

Escobedo fought the law in court for three years, arguing that he satisfied the law's requirements because he had privileges at a hospital in Lima, Peru. A panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law in 1989.

In recent years, Escobedo had switched his practice from abortion to outpatient liposuction and breast augmentation procedures.

A state administrative hearing on charges of misconduct and negligence filed against Escobedo in 1990 has been repeatedly delayed. But it is currently scheduled for April 28-30 in Jefferson City.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press.