Schlafly fights repeal of N.H. parental notification abortion law
CONCORD, N.H. --Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly said state legislators should fight the repeal of a parental-notification abortion law and should instead adjust it to comply with a court ruling.
"It would be a tragedy if your legislature just simply repealed the law and cut it all out," Schlafly said Wednesday during a visit with lawmakers.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld parts of New Hampshire's parental notification law but said a provision should be added to protect the mother's health. The House Judiciary Committee voted last week along party lines to recommend repealing the entire law; Gov. John Lynch said he would sign a repeal if it reached his desk.
Schlafly said legislators should add the court-ordered language to the law, which required abortion providers to notify one parent at least 48 hours before performing an abortion on a minor. The law has not taken effect because of the legal challenges.
"Who better to be notified and care about the children than their parents? It's a great mistake to leave them in the hands of people who have a financial incentive to go forward with the abortion, which is what it would mean if the minor girl only gets advice from the abortionist," said Schlafly, 82, who led the fight against the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and remains an opponent of feminism.
Schlafly, who leads the conservative Eagle Forum volunteer network, is the author of more than 20 books and is a fixture on the college lecture circuit. She is fiercely antifeminist and has said laws against domestic violence have created a pro-divorce, anti-male environment.
She visited the state to promote her latest book and rally supporters of the parental-notification law.
In New Hampshire, reproductive rights advocates say legislators should start with a fresh parental-notification law, not a makeover of the 2003 version. Abortion opponents say there is no chance a new version would be approved by the Legislature now.
"We would not be able to get a new parental-notification law in with the Democratically controlled House and Senate. It would also start at ground one," said Republican state Rep. Fran Wendelboe.
Wendelboe said she hopes Lynch will urge legislators to adjust the language instead of drafting a wholesale repeal.
"Even though the governor did publicly say that if the repeal hit his desk he would sign it, I have met personally with Gov. Lynch and he called me at home over the holiday weekend and we spoke about it. I'm not convinced that he would not be open to fixing the bill. I'm not giving up on him yet."
In December 2003, two days before the parental-notification law was to take effect, U.S. District Judge Joseph DiClerico struck it down because the bill lacked an exception to protect a woman's health. Supporters of the law intentionally left out the language, believing the medical exception would be abused.
The matter made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005, which last year returned the case to the district court to consider whether the law could be fixed by the addition of a health exception. DiClerico put the case on hold pending action by the Legislature.
Schlafly said the situation is a symptom of judges who have too much power.
"These judges proclaim themselves as the law of the land and trying to tell us that the Constitution is whatever the judges say it is," she said. "The country is moving pro-life, incrementally, slowly, but we're going to get there."
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