Oregon House panel considers abortion bills

SALEM – Pro-choice groups and abortion opponents faced off Thursday in a sometimes emotional public hearing on four measures to regulate abortion.

One bill would require parents of minors to be notified before an abortion is performed. Another would require every woman to wait 24 hours between an initial consultation and the abortion to review information physicians would be legally required to provide.

Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights activists told the House Judiciary Committee that the bills would limit abortion, which could harm women.

“Enacting barriers … will only serve to endanger women in Oregon,” said Dr. Christen Babcock, an obstetrician and gynecologist from Eugene.

Republican lawmakers said the changes were common sense.

“Would you support a law allowing your teenaged daughters to receive cosmetic surgery without your notification and consent?” asked Rep. Donna Nelson, R-McMinnville.

“Most parents would never dream of allowing their minor children to undergo invasive and possibly dangerous elective surgery without notification and consent,” Nelson testified.

One of the proposed bills would require physicians to tell patients that the fetus could experience pain during the procedure. Opponents argue that there is no scientific evidence that a fetus can feel pain.