A NEW ROUND OF BATTLES: ABORTION

The battle over abortion has been fought one state at a time since the Supreme Court’s 1989 ruling in the Webster case, which gave states mor authority to regulate abortion. And this year, the skirmishes are continuing at the state level.

One of the nation’s toughest laws, banning nearly all abortions, is due to take effect late this month in Utah. Several other states have abortion legislation in various stages of development and debate. Abortion rights attorneys say they will ask federal judges to block such laws from going into effect pending appeals to higher courts.

Sooner or later, what happens in one state is likely to become the vehicle to test the current Supreme Court’s opinion of Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 decision that gave women a constitutional right to abortion. National anti-abortion activists hope the Supreme Court--now dominated by appointees of Ronald Reagan and George Bush--will overturn Roe vs. Wade and take away a woman’s legal right to abortion.

Some Key Skirmishes

Utah

Utah’s abortion law prompted the American Civil Liberties Union to run a full-page ad in the New York Times that was headlined, “In Utah, they know how to punish a woman who has an abortion. Shoot her.”

Calling the ad “vicious,” the law’s author, State Sen. LeRay McAllister, said that language in the law that technically could make abortion a capital crime would be removed during a special legislative session.

Even so, the Utah law will remain the strictest abortion law in the nation, outlawing all elective abortions. It will allow termination or pregnancy only if the life of the mother or the fetus is in grave danger or if the pregnancy is the result of a rape or incest that was reported within the first 20 weeks.

The Utah Legislature has appropriated $100,000 for the law’s defense and set up a trust fund to receive contributions to aid in the anticipated legal battle. The ACLU, in running its ad, appealed for contributions to finance its case. An ACLU spokeswoman, defending the ad, said, “It’s the national ACLU’s duty to protect the rights of women across the country, to let them know of the consequences of this threat.”

North Dakota

On Monday, Gov. George Sinner vetoed a bill that was much like Utah’s and even a bit more restrictive. On Tuesday, the state House of Representatives failed to override the veto. The House was eight votes short of the 71 votes needed for an override.

Sinner, a father of 10 and a Roman Catholic who once considered the priesthood, vetoed the bill less than two hours after he received a formal copy of it. His veto message said government “must not play God.”

Louisiana

Gov. Buddy Roemer vetoed two bills last year that would have banned all abortions except those in which the woman’s life was at stake, or would have made exceptions in case of aggravated rape and incest. Anti-abortion legislators lacked the votes to override Roemer’s veto. Similar legislation may be introduced this year.

Guam

A federal judge has suspended enforcement of a strict abortion law in Guam. U.S. District Judge Alex Munson declared that Roe vs. Wade applied in the U.S. territory “with equal force and effect.”

The suspended law would have prohibited abortions except when pregnancy endangered the life of the mother. It made it a felony to perform or aid in an abortion, a misdemeanor for a woman to solicit or have an abortion, and a misdemeanor for a person to solicit a woman to have an abortion.

Supreme Court

When a state anti-abortion law reaches the Supreme Court, the high court’s verdict may well depend on Justices David H. Souter, the newest member of the court, and Sandra Day O’Connor, the only woman on the court.

Only three of the nine justices, two of whom are in their 80s, firmly support the Roe ruling. Four others have expressed a willingness to reverse it.

O’Connor has said she will uphold restrictions on abortion, but she has refused to go along with moves to overturn the abortion right entirely.

Souter’s views are unknown. He has not decided an abortion case as a judge and avoided any comment on the issue during his Senate confirmation hearings.

Outlook: The likely scenario is that rigid abortion restrictions in Utah or North Dakota or any other state will not take effect while the issue moves toward a decision in the high court.

Given the time lags of the legal process, that day may be two years away.