Jolt
Breaking: Pregnancy Center Bill Dead
Today's loser: Pregnant women and girls in Washington State.
Rep. Judy Clibborn's (D-41, Mercer Island) bill to require limited service pregnancy centers (centers, usually Christian-run, that discourage pregnant girls and women from getting abortions) to disclose that they do not provide abortions or contraceptive services is dead, PubliCola has learned.
Today is the last day for non-fiscal bills to get voted out of the house, and House Speaker Frank Chopp (D-43, Wallingford) does not plan to it up for a vote. The bill originally made it out of the house health care committee in spite of massive opposition from anti-abortion groups, which have fervently fought the bill while women's advocacy groups have lobbied strongly in favor of it.
Standing in the wings of the House, a forlorn Rep. Laurie Jinkins (D-27, Tacoma), Clibborn's co-lead on the bill, confirmed its demise. The most recent version of the bill had already been pared down dramatically from the original proposal, which would have created an "immediate cause of [legal] action" if a limited service pregnancy center failed to disclose what services it did and did not provide. Under the latest version, centers that violated the law would get a reprimand for their first offense.
Pam Crone, a lobbyist for women's advocacy group Legal Voice, said that even though they didn't have any Republicans on board they "had the votes to pass" the legislation. (They'd done a vote count last week).
Disappointed liberal reps in the house wings say the bill died because they believed they didn't have support in the senate.
Rep. Judy Clibborn's (D-41, Mercer Island) bill to require limited service pregnancy centers (centers, usually Christian-run, that discourage pregnant girls and women from getting abortions) to disclose that they do not provide abortions or contraceptive services is dead, PubliCola has learned.
Today is the last day for non-fiscal bills to get voted out of the house, and House Speaker Frank Chopp (D-43, Wallingford) does not plan to it up for a vote. The bill originally made it out of the house health care committee in spite of massive opposition from anti-abortion groups, which have fervently fought the bill while women's advocacy groups have lobbied strongly in favor of it.
Standing in the wings of the House, a forlorn Rep. Laurie Jinkins (D-27, Tacoma), Clibborn's co-lead on the bill, confirmed its demise. The most recent version of the bill had already been pared down dramatically from the original proposal, which would have created an "immediate cause of [legal] action" if a limited service pregnancy center failed to disclose what services it did and did not provide. Under the latest version, centers that violated the law would get a reprimand for their first offense.
Pam Crone, a lobbyist for women's advocacy group Legal Voice, said that even though they didn't have any Republicans on board they "had the votes to pass" the legislation. (They'd done a vote count last week).
Disappointed liberal reps in the house wings say the bill died because they believed they didn't have support in the senate.
