Legislators clash on abortion rules
By W. Gardner Selby
Express-News Austin Bureau
Web Posted : 11/20/2003 12:00 AM
AUSTIN — Renewing rancorous debate from last spring, legislators disagreed Wednesday on whether conservatives are pressuring an agency to write abortion rules that overstep a new law to scare women away from services.
Democrats asserted that conservatives, including Rep. Frank Corte, R-San Antonio, and his aide, Kathi Seay, have pushed the Texas Department of Health to propose overreaching regulations on abortion providers. (snip)
(snip) The new law requires physicians to tell patients they have "the right to review" materials describing, at two-week intervals, the probable anatomical and physiological characteristics of an unborn child.
Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, called requiring women to receive the pamphlet a "state-sponsored terrorist act against women who have to make a tough decision."
A draft of the leaflet describes development from four weeks through 38 weeks. At 10 weeks, the draft states, the "unborn child" is called a fetus rather than embryo. At 20 weeks, it states, "Some experts have concluded that the unborn child is probably able to feel pain." (snip/...)
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