A Senate bill requiring a face-to-face consultation between a woman and her health care provider before she has an abortion passed Wednesday.
Senate Bill 3 sponsor Sara Beth Gregory argued on the floor of the Senate that the legislation only clarifies statues already on the books.
"The clear intent of the existing law that was passed back in 1998 was to ensure that a woman would have the opportunity to have a face-to-face conversation with someone who could share this information and answer questions about the procedure, then have at least a 24 hour period to reflect and consider that information before deciding whether or not to go through with an abortion procedure," Gregory said.
Democratic Sen. Reggie Thomas, however, questioned the motivation of the bill's authors. The successor to Kathy Stein told the body that SB3 places an undue burden on women.
"What this bill is is a guilt trip that we want to impose upon women. We want to engage in humiliation and embarrassment and shaming them because of their decision, which they have a constitutional, private right to do," Thomas said.
The bill sailed through the Senate 33-5, but is likely to face resistance in the House, where similar legislation has failed to pass in past sessions.
