Banner Graphic, Volume 20, Number 133, Greencastle, Putnam County, 9 February 1990 — Page 3

Behind the abortion debate Senate panel passes comprehensive anti-abortion bill

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) A leading anti-abortion activist said She was surprised at how easily legislation restricting abortion in public hospitals cleared the Senate ; Judiciary Committee. ; “I thought it would be a little bit ; tougher because there are a lot of ; legitimate questions about the bill,” ; said Nadia Shloss, president of In--2 diana Right to Life, Inc. : HOUSE BILL 1034, sponsored : by Sen. Joseph V. Corcoran, R- ; Seymour, was sent to the Senate ; floor Thursday on a 7-5 vote by the I Senate Judiciary Committee. However, two senators who voted I for the bill said they might vote ' against it on the floor. - The measure would ban abortions in public facilities and require - doctors to perform viability tests before abortions performed after the 20th week of pregnancy. The committee heard three hours ; of testimony and debate in a hot, crowded committee room. The • measure won approval after it was amended to permit abortions after the fetus could live outside the - mother’s womb. THE COMMITTEE ALSO ■ removed sections requiring doctors ■ to give women more information about development of the fetus, the ; status of fetal organ systems and ; the type of the abortion at least 24 ; hours before performing the proce- ; dure. Those restrictions are in- ; eluded in another bill that already ; has cleared a Senate committee. ; As approved by the committee, ‘ H.B. 1034 would prohibit public facilities and their employees from I performing abortions except in ‘ cases of rape, incest or when the

Bishop slams way priest criticized pro-abortion lawmaker

; INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The ; Roman Catholic bishop of the ' Lafayette diocese says a public : scolding during church services of : a legislator who voted against a • major abortion-regulation bill was inappropriate. Rep. Robert Sabatini, DLogansport, was criticized for his stand on abortion while he attended church services last weekend in Kewanna, House Democratic and Catholic officials said Thursday. AT ONE POINT, the priest said the congregation had a murderer in its midst, Democratic officials said. Sabatini could not be reached for comment, but one House Democratic official described the first-term legislator as confused and hurt by the criticism. “Very clearly, I would consider singly out people and sitting in judgment as not appropriate,” said

Brown Co. sandstone to Japan COLUMBUS, Ind. (AP) Businessman Lowell Carter wants to do something about the trade imbalance between the United States and Japan. “Everything is coming over this direction. There’s nothing going back,” said Carter, whose stone company is about a mile from Woodside Business Center, where five Japanese companies have built plants. THE LOWELL CARTER Excavating and Stone Co. is •shipping 36 tons of sandstone from the hills of Brown County to Japan. The brown stone will be sent •by truck, rail and ship to Tokyo, where it will be used to make fireplaces. According to the Indiana ‘ Geological Survey, 3,800 short . tons of Indiana sandstone were . produced in 1987, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Export figures were not available. Carter, 43, got the call from Theo S teckier, a Toyko-based designer who is familiar with the region’s heritage as a stone provider from his days at Indiana University in Bloomington. Steckler also lived ' near Nashville briefly after graduation. HE HAD A customer interested in stone for a fireplace, and the architect’s memories led him to call the Brown County Cham- ' ber of Commerce. The chamber referred Steckler to Carter. “To be honest with you, I thought it was a prank. Who’d think someone would want to ship stone from here to Japan?”

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SEN. WILLIAM VOBACH Fewer doctors will take risk

health of the mother is in danger. Doctors would be required to perform viability tests before performing abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. “WHAT WE HAVE put before you is a bill which simply chooses to implement a policy that is not demeaning to women and is not restrictive,” said the bill’s author, Rep. Frank Newkirk, D-Salem. “The hopes of thousands of Hoosiers would be that today you would get government out of the abortion business and that you would protect babies that can live outside the womb.” Sens. Sue Landske, R-Cedar Lake, and Thomas K. Weatherwax, R-Logansport, said they voted for the bill in committee only so that the full Senate could consider it. They said their votes on the floor might be against the measure.

11 REP. ROBERT SABATINI Priest called him a murder Bishop William Higi. “It’s never appropriate to attack the integrity

Democrats, Republicans settle environmental differences

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) An agreement between Senate Democrats and Republicans over solid waste planning legislation apparently has mended a rift that had threatened to stall environmental protection bills in the Indiana General Assembly. At a news conference with Gov. Evan Bayh, Senate Environmental and Consumer Affairs Committee Chairman William H. Vbbach and the committee’s ranking minority member, Sen. Vi Simpson, announced the agreement and pledged support for a three-part package of environmental legislation. DEMOCRATS HAD walked out of a committee hearing Monday night after Vbbach ditched Bayh’s proposal for solid waste planning in favor of a GOP-sponsored plan supported by his caucus. “It’s important to understand that there were some very substantial differences, philosophical differences that we amongst ourselves have resolved,” said Simpson, DEllettsville. “We now have a very comprehensive environmental package to put forward.” Under the agreement, potions of House Bill 1109 will be inserted into H.B. 1240, which cleared the environmental committee on a 7-0 vote Monday night after the Democratic walkout. THE MEASURE WILL require counties to set up solid waste management districts and make plans for future disposal of their garbage. Districts would be allowed to charge tipping fees for waste disposed at their facilities but would have to send 50 cents per ton to the state for recycling programs. Bayh agreed to set up a $2 million loan fund to help local communities set up the districts. He also promised not to use fees collected locally to cover the ad-

SEN. JULIA CARSON Creates a dual system

OPPONENTS ARGUED the bill would prevent poor women from having access to abortion and would place too great a burden on rape and incest victims, who would be required to report the crimes to police before they could get abortions. “House Bill 1034 is a very bad reminder of the kind of dual system this country has established over the years, especially as it has affected poor people and especially as it has affected black people,” said Sen. Julia M. Carson, D-In-dianapolis. Others said the measure would frighten physicians, who could be charged with a Class C felony for violating its provisions. As a result, said Sen. William H. Vbbach, fewer doctors would perform abortions. “I KNOW WHAT they’re

of an individual.” Bill Wood, an attorney for the Indiana Catholic Conference, said Sabatini was “singled out from the pulpit That was a grievous mistake....He was verbally abused.” HIGI SAID HE talked by telephone with Sabatini after hearing of the incident. “I reassured him that public denunciation of people, name-call-ing...is not the policy in this diocese,” said Higi. Higi said he is still looking into the incident and hasn’t yet talked to the priest whom officials declined to identify. The telephone at St. Ann Church in Kewanna was busy Thursday night during repeated attempts by The Associated Press to call the parish office. WHILE PUBLIC denunciations of individual lawmakers aren’t appropriate, Higi said, it is important

ministrative costs of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. LOCAL GOVERNMENTS had complained they would lose onehalf of the fees to the state under H.B. 1109, which came out of a summer study committee. “The funding was the most difficult part,” Simpson said. “Once we reached agreement on that, the rest of it fell into place.” In exchange, Republicans agreed to use portions of H.B. 1109 that would prevent out-of-state waste from coming into Indiana and conceded the 50-cent fee for recycling programs. The agreement was similar to one the two sides had reached last week but which fell apart Monday under pressure from Senate President Pro Tem Robert D. Garton, RColumbus, and the Senate Republican caucus. “THE DIFFERENCE between this agreement and last week’s agreement is that Senator Garton is on board,” said Simpson.

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trying to do is to protect the unborn fetus, but I think what they actually are doing is preventing the woman from getting help at a time when she needs it,” said Vbbach, R-In-dianapolis. Doctors testifying before the committee disagreed over whether the measure would place too great a burden on physicians. “At 20 weeks, the fetus differs from a full-term baby only in size and lung maturity,” said Dr. Steven Foley, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Community Hospital in Indianapolis. “I see in my own practice women traveling to Kentucky for abortions at 24 weeks gestation. I think this legislature should make certain this does not happen in the future in the state of Indiana.” BUT DR. JAMES NOCON, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Indiana University Medical Center, said viability test requirements would restrict physicians who must perform emergency abortions when pregnant women suddenly develop very high blood pressure. “This bill creates a substandard level of medicine that has no relevance to the type of medicine I practice and would make me a felon,” he said. Before Thursday’s hearing, three measures to restrict abortion had died in the Senate Judiciary Committee this year. H.B. 1034 was the first to clear the panel and the second to be sent to the Senate floor. H.B. 1134, which would require doctors to provide more information to women seeking abortions, cleared the Senate Public Policy Committee earlier this week.

for priests and members of the church to discuss the moral issues involved in the debate on abortion. Representatives of the Catholic church have lobbied for abortion regulation legislation. Sabatini, a retired Indiana State Police officer, was one of 43 legislators to vote against House Bill 1034, the most comprehensive abortion regulation pending in the Legislature this year, when the bill came up for a final vote in the Indiana House on Jan. 29. The measure cleared the House by a 56-43 vote and on Thursday was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. H.B. 1034 would ban the use of public facilities and employees for abortion and require viability tests on fetuses 20 weeks or older in women contemplating abortion.

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SEN. VI SIMPSON Comprehensive bill ready Local governments prefer H.B. 1240 because it gives them greater flexibility and more funding options to implement solid waste plans. Environmentalists opposed it because it did not discourage out-of-state waste or encourage recycling.

Northern mayors oppose collective bargaining bill

MISHAWAKA, Ind. (AP) A legislative proposal that would force cities to bargain collectively has drawn fire from mayors in South Bend, Mishawaka and Elkhart. Mayors Joseph E. Kernan of South Bend, Robert C. Beutter of Mishawaka and James Perron of Elkhart spoke against House Bill 1307 Thursday during a news conference in Mishawaka’s City Hall. THE BILL WAS approved by the state House of Representatives and has been assigned to the Senate Finance Committee. It would permit collective bargaining for state employees, university employees, including faculty, non-teaching public school personnel, local police and fire employees, license branch workers and lottery commission employees. But an amendment offered by Sen. Dennis Neary, D-Michigan City, would allow local governments the option of bargaining collectively with police, fire and other employees. “I am not aware of any issue that has raised more concern nor been more unanimously supported than this issue,” Kernan said. ALL THREE OFFICIALS, who pointed out collective bargaining already is practiced in each city, said such an issue should be left to cities to decide. Kernan said state legislators should not “stick their collective noses in the business of local governments.” Kernan also referred to the bill as “an insult” to city officials, who alone are responsible to taxpayers. Beutter complained the binding arbitration part of the bill

Army ammunition plant may be used as a park

CHARLESTOWN, Ind. (AP) About 900 acres of land at the Indiana Army Ammunition Plant may be released by the U.S. Army for use as a state park, according to Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind. That idea is appealing to the Chamber of Commerce which has produced pamphlets on the site, as well as a video documentary to promote the concept of a state park in Charlestown. The land is between Indiana 62 and the Ohio River, just north of Fourteen Mile Creek. A LETTER FROM Secretary of the Army Michael Stone to Hamilton dated Feb. 5 said, “We think we can find a way to convey all or

Thursday’s agreement should alleviate many of those concerns, Vobach said. “Environmentalists would have preferred 1109 because it’s a simple bill; 1240 is not a simple bill,” the Indianapolis Republican said. “There are 41 pages in it It has a lot of options, a lot of ways a district can solve its problems.” REPUBLICANS ALSO agreed to support two other bills in Bayh’s environmental package: H.B. 1472, which requires applicants for a landfill permit to prove there is a need for a facility in the area, and Senate Bill 435, which requires the state to support research and business projects involving recycled materials. “I want to thank that bipartisan cooperation whereby we emphasized the interests of the citizens of our state and that means

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February 9,1990 THE BANNERGRAPHIC

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SEN. LAWRENCE BORST Controls bill now would cause cities to lose control of services by allowing a third party to determine what city employees should be paid. “I DON’T SEE IN any way that it encourages good government,” Beutter said. Perron said members of the General Assembly ought to “concentrate on matters concerning the state and get out of the business of operating as a gigantic common council.” Although Gov. Evan Bayh supports collective bargaining for state workers, he does not support expanding the bill to include cities with populations greater than 5,000 people. The mayors said the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns has been lobbying to kill the proposal. Kernan said the president of the group was in Indianapolis Wednesday arguing against the bill.

part of the 900 acres at lAAP to the state for nominal consideration.” The letter said many factors need to be considered, such as identification and cleanup of any contamination and valuation of the land, before such a move will be made. “We must carefully consider this possibility in light of the surrounding circumstances to assure that such a conveyance will be in the best interest of all concerned, including the Army and the state,” Stone said. HE TOLD HAMILTON that the land has not yet been surveyed for cleanup, and that no cost estimate has been determined. He estimated the value of the land at no more than $500,000.

we can move forward on a tough, aggressive program for environmental protection,” Bayh said. Meanwhile, the environmental committee approved three measures Thursday to tighten Indiana’s environmental protection laws. H.B. 1030, SPONSORED by Vobach, would prohibit the transportation of food in a truck within 15 days after the truck is used to transport solid waste. H.B. 1388, sponsored by Sen. Joseph V. Corcoran, R-Seymour, would require new landfill operators to have a net worth of at least SIOO,OOO. H.B. 1336, sponsored by Sen. Edward A. Pease, R-Brazil, requires the Water Pollution Control Board to set five-year limits on variances from water quality standards.