Parental Notification

The Carroll County school system's new search-and-seizure policy will require school officials to make "a reasonable attempt" to contact a parent after a student is searched on a school-sponsored trip. "I'm not convinced I like the `after' thing, but I'm glad [the policy] includes parent notification," said board member Laura K. Rhodes, who joined other members in approving the policy yesterday. At a board meeting two weeks ago, Rhodes asked for a parent-notification provision in the policy, which prompted school officials to rework it. At that time, she said she would prefer parents be notified before a search is conducted except in those cases where there is "clear and present danger."

To those who support "choice" at all costs: Read the grand jury report on Kermit Gosnell. He is the Philadelphia abortion doctor awaiting a verdict in his trial, where he is accused of murdering four babies allegedly born alive and killing 41-year-old refugee Karnamaya Mongar. The charges represent only a fraction of the horrors that went on at the Women's Medical Society clinic, according to the report, where hundreds of children died by "snipping" - his term for sticking scissors into the back of a baby's neck and cutting its spinal cord - and where women were routinely butchered in late-term abortions by untrained medical staff and doped up according to how much they could pay. Here are some lowlights from the report: •"A nineteen-year-old girl was held for several hours after Gosnell punctured her uterus.

I read with interest Del. Samuel I. "Sandy" Rosenberg's critique of Marta Mossburg's interpretation of abortion law ("Mossburg wrong on Md. abortion law," May 9). Though the lawyer-politician has great knowledge and experience in many areas of Maryland law, his interpretation is not accurate here. In objecting to Ms. Mossburg's statement, "Abortion is virtually available on demand throughout a pregnancy," Mr. Rosenberg cites the specific abortion statute, noting that abortion is legally permissible when "necessary to protect the life or health of the woman or if the fetus is affected by genetic defect or severe deformity or abnormality.

There are a few things Marylanders should know about the abortion bill their legislature has just passed.Naturally, advocates of unborn children's right to life will oppose the bill and favor overturning it by referendum. But others as well may be so inclined: advocates of freedom of conscience, supporters of genuine parental notification, those who favor a meaningful term limitation to abortion -- and others who just don't like being lied to, even if they don't fit into any of those other groups.

The Supreme Court said yesterday that it would revisit the emotional debate over abortion for the first time in five years, agreeing to review a parental-notification law in an unexpected decision made against the politically charged backdrop of ailing Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's possible retirement. The case could end up being as much about legal technicalities as about fundamental questions of abortion law; a central issue in the appeal is what standard should be used to assess whether state abortion laws pass constitutional muster.

By a 29-18 vote, the state Senate today passed an abortion-rights bill and handed off the controversial issue to the House of Delegates.The bill would guarantee women in Maryland the same rights to have abortions they now have under the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, even if the high court modified that decision. The new law would repeal a more restrictive state abortion law that has been dormant since Roe vs. Wade.The bill, which could come before a House committee as early as tomorrow and the whole House next week, also requires in most cases that a girl under the age of 18 notify her parents before she can obtain an abortion.

WASHINGTON - The House passed a bill yesterday that would make it a federal crime for an adult to transport an underage girl across state lines to have an abortion without the consent of her parents. A vote on a similar bill is expected in the Senate later this spring or early this summer, and backers says its chances are good. The measure, called the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, passed 270-157, and was a victory for abortion opponents, who have been pushing an ambitious legislative agenda now that Congress is under strengthened Republican control.

Adding contraceptives to prescription plans approved by HouseA bill that would require health insurers to include contraceptives in their prescription drug plans received final General Assembly approval yesterday.The bill, approved by the House of Delegates 86-44, goes to the governor to be signed or vetoed. The legislation would not require employers to offer prescription plans, but if they do, contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration would have to be included.Proponents said the measure was needed as a matter of "gender equity" because some insurers offer plans that do not treat women's contraceptive drugs and devices like other prescriptions.

Schaefer remains quiet on abortionGov. William Donald Schaefer was mum on abortion during last year's General Assembly session and, so far, he hasn't said much about the issue this year.Since he released an abortion-rights statement before the November election, Schaefer generally has been tight-lipped when asked how he stands on a bill that would require parental involvement in a teen-ager's decision to have an abortion. That particular proposal is likely to be the most controversial issue in the abortion debate this year.

Washington. -- The Freedom of Choice Act, perhaps the most disingenuously named piece of legislation since ''deficit reduction,'' is in trouble.Those who support the act's original intent -- abortion on demand, for any reason and at any time during pregnancy -- are worried. That's because amendments allowing for parental notification of minors and a prohibition against federal funding of abortions, could deflect what they regard as the silver bullet that would end the 20-year-old abortion wars.