PRO-LIFE LEADER WANTS NEW CITY ORDINANCE

The chairman of the southeast region of Missouri Right to Life, Margie Eftink, said Sunday the time is right for Cape Girardeau to renew a decade-old attempt to regulate abortion in the city.

Eftink, who lives in Marble Hill, was involved 10 years ago with efforts by a Cape Girardeau pro-life organization to regulate a local clinic that provided abortion services.

Those efforts ultimately failed when the operator of the Cape Girardeau Women's Center, Dr. Bolivar Escobedo, took legal action against the city to stop the action.

But the clinic has since closed and Escobedo two years ago was accused by the State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts of misconduct and negligence regarding abortions he performed in Cape Girardeau and St. Louis.

Eftink said now is the time to draft an ordinance that not only would make it difficult for an abortion clinic to locate here, but would assure that any such clinic would be accountable to city health standards.

"We think Cape Girardeau should put in an ordinance now, because there's no longer an abortion mill in the city," she said. "There are no abortionists in town now to threaten a lawsuit like there was 10 years ago."

Eftink said Perryville now has an ordinance similar to one approved by Cape Girardeau in 1982. Cape Girardeau's ordinance was repealed less than a month after it was adopted when Escobedo threatened a lawsuit.

Also, Paducah has an abortion law that's "almost exactly" like the short-lived Cape Girardeau ordinance, she said.

"As soon as possible, we're going to be working on pushing for an ordinance in Cape, hopefully similar to what was done before," Eftink said. "Perryville has it, and we got it to work in Paducah. I cannot see why it can't work in Cape Girardeau."

Eftink credited local pro-life advocates for pressuring authorities to investigate the Cape Girardeau Women's Center, which ultimately led to the complaint against its director.

Also, in 1986, the state legislature passed a law requiring physicians who perform outpatient abortions to have hospital privileges, something Escobedo failed to have in Cape Girardeau.

Eftink, like many other protesters at the clinic, was arrested twice and jailed because of her anti-abortion activities at the Women's Health Center. She said Sunday she feels vindicated by the clinic's closure and the subsequent complaint against Escobedo.

"What we tried to tell them (about the clinic) was true, particularly the fact that he had no clearance with the local hospitals," she said.

Eftink said that as a regional medical hub and trade center, Cape Girardeau is a likely site for an abortion clinic, which is why she wants the city council to revisit the issue.

"I think there's a very good possibility they would try to come to Cape again," she said. "I think without an ordinance, we're very scared they'll try."