At the start of this year’s legislative session in Annapolis, I had a chance to spend some time with a Baltimore woman who is trying to bring some good out of a profound loss. Stephanie White’s 21-year-old daughter, Denise Crowe, died in 2006 after receiving an overdose of anesthesia while undergoing an abortion.
White, who is now raising her grandson, is convinced her daughter would be alive today if the state’s abortion clinics were regulated as ambulatory surgical centers and not merely as doctors’ offices as currently prescribed. She is working closely with the Maryland Catholic Conference to pass a law that would enact tighter regulations. (Click here to read an in-depth story about White’s ordeal).
As reported in today’s Catholic Review, it looks like White’s legislation is being stalled in the General Assembly. The grieving mother told me she won’t rest until the regulations are changed. She believes the bill is worthy of support among pro-life and pro-choice advocates alike.
At a time when South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard just signed a bill instituting a 72-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion (the longest in the country), our representatives can’t even agree to require abortion clinics to enact the most basic emergency procedures and safety requirements.
Maryland has no waiting period and no parental consent for minors seeking an abortion. Its parental notification law has such a big loophole that a 13-year-old girl can get an abortion without ever telling her mother or father. Maryland is one of just four states that do not collect any abortion statistics and one of 17 states that fund abortion with taxpayer dollars through Medicaid.
As White pointed out during emotional hearings on the regulation of abortion clinics, the bill she supports would not close abortion facilities. It would simply hold them more accountable. No matter your position on abortion, that seems like it’s not asking much. Is it?
Here’s a video report taken from one of my conversations with White.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lyZKiFICRY]