Pro-Lifers Moving Ahead Around the Nation.(news of bills and proposals passed )

By almost any index, the 2003 state legislative sessions have been a genuine success for pro-lifers. Having said that, however, it is also true that replicants of very dangerous cloning bills have shown up in a number of state legislatures which "demand our closest attention," said Mary Spaulding Balch, NRLC director of state legislation. (See related story, page 17.)

For example, New Hampshire's winters may be brutally cold but for 30+ years they have been warm in comparison to the response in the legislature to pro-life initiatives. But on March 18, the House Judiciary Committee passed by one vote a parental notice bill, once thought to be an impossible task. A week later the bill narrowly secured passage in the full House 187-181. (See story, page one.)

In Oregon, "Persistence paid off again when the House passed a Woman's Right to Know bill 34-22," Balch said. "Like New Hampshire, this represents a breakthrough of enormous proportions." The battle in both states now moves to their Senates.

Balch patiently explained to NRL News the length and breadth of pro-life successes. Literally as she was running through the list, a phone call came in about Virginia.

The state had passed three measures. In the Commonwealth of Virginia's system, the legislature comes back after the session is over to deal with gubernatorial vetoes and suggested amendments. Pro-lifers were unable to override a veto by pro-abortion Gov. Mark Warner (D) of a "Choose Life" license plate. However they did turn back his attempts to finesse changes in the newly enacted parental consent bill and a partial-birth bill.

Warner tried to delete the provision that required that a parental statement of consent be notarized. Without that language, a minor could easily write her own statement of permission.

The partial-birth measure makes it a crime to kill a born-alive child, including a child only partially attached to the mother's body. Warner proposed a "health" exception, the result of which would have been to completely negate the effect of the law.