ARTICLES

Wilson Delivers Abortion Bacon

CALIFORNIA BISHOPS PRAISE NEW BUDGET

By Carlos Bey

With the passage of the 1997 budget this July, Governor Pete Wilson was able to increase spending for abortion and abortion-related services even further. Behind-the-scenes actions by a handful of pro-life representatives (including Bruce Thompson, Barbara Alby, and Steve Baldwin) almost succeeded in restricting abortion funds, but last-minute efforts by the governor in collaboration with pro-abortion Democrats reversed these amendments.

Said one senior capitol staff member: "Even though, for the first time in 27 years we had a Republican majority in the Assembly and a Republican governor, we end up passing one of the most liberal Democrat budgets in our state's history, unquestionably liberal in terms of family-planning services. The governor delivered bacon to the abortion industry big-time."

There will now be no limit on Medi-Cal funds available for contraception and related services. In years past Medi-Cal would only pay for family planning services for people who were enrolled in the program. Now clinics will bill Medi-Cal for services to people who claim they are low-income. One Sacramento pro-life lobbyist points out, "As with abortions, no proof is required and there is no monitoring by the state to see how the clinics determine eligibility."

The budget also includes a new $43 million Teen Challenge program for prevention of teen pregnancy, with "Challenge grants" given to family-planning groups. "They said the money would also go to churches and people teaching abstinence," said one Assembly staffer. "But it will really go to the Planned Parenthood groupies and they'll throw us a bone here and there."

A Sacramento pro-life lobbyist noted, "They've created a climate of massive teen promiscuity -- sex ed programs, easy availability of birth control drugs and devices behind parents' backs, with unlimited access to abortion. And now they think they're going to encourage abstinence by giving more money to the same people?"

During the budget proceedings, Assemblywoman Barbara Alby, chair of the health services subcommittee of the budget committee, was able to strip abortion funding in her recommendations which were adopted by the budget committee and sent to the floor. "We did a lot of smart things in those amendments," said one senior capitol staff member. "Instead of stripping the dollars for Medi-Cal abortions, we put in controlling language, saying you can't spend Medi-Cal money on any abortion except for rape, life of the mother, or incest, or that you can't spend money for Medi-Cal abortions after the woman's first abortion. We left the money there, but said couldn't use it for this and that."

Meanwhile, an inattentive Democratic leadership, assuming that the Republicans had removed money for Medi-Cal abortions, passed an amendment with the help of pro-abortion Republicans. "They passed an amendment to put back the money, but we never took the money out," said the staff member. "They didn't even realize what they had done. But the governor's staff realized the error. At the eleventh hour -- the last day for amendments -- they hand-wrote amendments to the budget, taking out all of our controlling language restrictions." The governor's amendments were then hand-delivered to a Democrat -- Antonio Villaraigosa (a Catholic from Los Angeles). He authored them and successfully passed them.

Said the staffer, "The significant thing is that a Republican governor dedicated his personal staff to write amendments to give to a Democrat, against the wishes of the Republican speaker. This is proof that all he cares about is abortion."

Eight Assembly members voted against the budget (Barbara Alby, Steve Baldwin, Scott Baugh, Tom Bordenaro, Bill Hoge, George House, Bob Margett, and Bruce Thompson); four senators opposed the budget (Ray Haynes, Richard Mountjoy, John Lewis, and Alfred Alquist, the latter pro-abortion, voting against the budget for other reasons). Senator Richard Mountjoy was the only person in either house to give a speech against the budget, specifically chiding the legislature for funding abortion.

The California Catholic Conference, the California Bishops' political lobbying arm, praised the new budget in the July-August issue of their newsletter, commending the fact that the budget was passed without the "partisanship evident in years past." [Referring to the pro-life legislators who tried to remove abortion funding from last year's budget.] The item was written by Carol Hogan, CCC's pro-life lobbyist.

The state Senate and Assembly alternate initiation of the budget each year; next year, the Assembly will prepare the budget. Because of the November elections and the number of Assembly members being term-limited out of office, next year's Assembly will be different. Most representatives actively fighting abortion (including Bruce Thompson, Steve Baldwin and Bob Margett) are newcomers and will lead the fight against abortion funding in next year's budget.