Vt pro-lifers push for parental consent Anti-abortion activists gain ground in Milton Town Meeting petition drive

Author: Katherine N. Doorley

Anti-abortion activists in Vermonthave just reached another milestone on their pro-choice agenda. Residents of the town of Milton, in Chittenden County, have become the latest community in the state to succeed in placing a parental notification recommendation on this spring's Town Meeting ballot. While acceptance of the reccomendation would not put a parental notification requirement into effect, as only the state legislature has the power to do so, it would send a clear message to the state government that several towns in Vermont would support such a regulation.

Historically, Vermont has been a pro-choice state. While the rural nature of the state means that 43 percent of Vermont counties do not have an abortion provider, there were, as of 2000, 11 providers in the state, and every metropolitan area and many other smaller towns such as Middlebury and Barre have clinics where abortions are performed. In addition, Vermont has some of the most choice-friendly laws in the country, despite the fact that the legislature has never actually overturned a constitutional provision that makes abortion illegal to perform or receive within state borders. Although it exists, this law is regularly ignored and the state lacks many of the more restrictive abortion laws such as mandatory waiting periods, limits on public funding for abortions or mandatory notification laws. Vermont also has laws on the books that provide funding for low-income women who desire to have abortions. These laws have resulted in Vermont receiving a grade of A from NARAL, a pro-choice activism organization. Despite these unrestrictive laws, Vermont still constitute only about .1 percent of all abortions in the United States or about 1,677 out of 1.3 million abortions performed in 2004.

The Milton effort began as a petition by an organization calling itself Caring Vermont Parents. They are in the process of organizing several other petitions across the state in an effort to get their Parental Notification Initiative placed on the docket of as many Town Meetings as possible this year. As their director Guy Page noted, "Sometimes Vermonters can't just leave it to the legislators. When lawmakers' failure to act threatens the safety and well-being of children, it's time for citizen action." Their petition in Milton gathered 343 signatures for inclusion on the ballot. This number represents close to 10 percent of the eligible voting population in Milton, so the notification requirement which states, "Shall our state legislature support legislation that will protect young girls by requiring clinics to notify at least one parent prior to providing a surgical or chemical abortion to their minor daughter, with special provisions to protect girls in abusive situations?" will be voted on in March by the town's citizens.

The relative ease in which an abortion can be obtained in Vermont has concerned many anti-abortion activists around the state. Several failed efforts to pass various laws restricting abortions or placing conditions upon the receipt of abortions have been voted down by the state legislature, which has been consistently pro-choice. Thus, even if such a recommendation were to reach the state legislature, there is no guarantee that there would be enough votes to enact a comparable law. In the 2005-2006 legislative year three parental notification bills were proposed in the House and one bill was proposed in the Senate. But none of the four have of yet left their respective committees. In the same legislative session, the House passed a bill in honor of the anniversary of Roe v. Wade which stated, "That this legislative body opposes any state or federal legislation that diminishes the rights of women provided by the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, thus codifying the legislature's support for the right to choose.

While the number of communities with parental notification proposals on their Town Meeting agendas, and the steady stream of protestors gathering outside of Planned Parenthood clinics and other locations across the state where abortions are know to be performed, is certainly indicative of a trend in popular opinion supported by a motivated and organized grassroots movement, it by no means indicates that a law of a similar nature will be imminently forthcoming. In fact, given the General Assembly's traditional support for abortion rights, as well as the fact that most Vt. public officials are pro-choice it would seem as if there is only a limited chance that a parental notification law will be passed in Vermont any time soon.