JACKSON - The Mississippi Senate on Wednesday voted to seek a compromise with the House on a proposed abortion bill, a move a key chairman says could possibly kill the legislation.
Senate Public Health Committee Chairman Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo, said lawmakers need to revisit some of the details the House had removed from the Senate version.
The House had amended the earlier Senate-passed bill to ban all abortions except when the woman's life is at risk or she's the victim of rape or incest.
Nunnelee said he wants to restore a requirement that doctors perform an ultrasound and that a fetal heart monitor is attached to the patient before an abortion is performed.
He also wanted to ensure protection for the state's current consent law if the new legislation was ever challenged in court.
"We need a severability clause so if a portion is found unconstitutional, only that part will be struck down," Nunnelee said. "I would suggest to you that the wisest course of action would be to go to conference."
House Public Health Committee Chairman Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, says he's not certain he will bring the bill up for vote if it's returned for compromise talks.
"I don't understand for the life of me why the most definitive vote in history on abortion has to go to conference," Holland said. "It just may die. I really don't think this House wants to vote on that issue again."
Mississippi already has one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation. The law requires the consent of both parents for minors who seek the procedure and a 24-hour waiting period and counseling for all abortions.
Holland said he doesn't like the Senate's ultrasound provision. "I'm not going to have that. That's just needling a woman," he said.
Terri Herring, president of Pro-Life Mississippi, said Wednesday she hopes lawmakers are sincere in their efforts to address abortion.
"If the House is sincere in their attempts to limit abortion, they will work with the Senate in conference on the best language possible," said Herring, whose group supports the ultrasound provision that was in the Senate bill.
The bill is Senate Bill 2922.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
