By Zoey Palmer
WNPA Olympia News Bureau

     OLYMPIA - Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that affirmed a woman's right to an abortion, turned 40 years old Jan. 22.
     In Olympia, the contentious issue of reproductive rights has already become a major social policy topic in the Legislature this session, with two bills, each representing an opposing side of the debate, twisting through the lawmaking process.
     Pro-life demonstrators and speakers showed up at the Capitol on Jan. 22 to support life choices over abortion. Sympathetic legislators told the crowd, estimated at more than 3,000, they would continue to press for abortion limits.
     A bill introduced Jan. 21 by Vancouver Sen. Don Benton, R-17th District, who spoke at the rally the following day, would require abortion providers to notify a parent or legal guardian 48 hours before performing the procedure on a minor.
     Senate Bill 5156, known as the Parental Notification of Abortion Act, allows exceptions for incest if a court order is obtained. The notification requirement also would be waived if there is a medical emergency.
     On the pro-choice side of the debate, identical House and Senate bills, titled the Reproductive Parity Act, would require that health insurance companies that cover live births also cover abortions.
     For its supporters, the parental notification bill is an extension of common values.
"If you have to have parental approval to get a tattoo or get your ear pierced, then I certainly think it's not a stretch at all," Benton said.
     Kent Sen. Karen Keiser, D-33rd District, opposes Benton's bill and called the tattoo comparison facile. She said such a requirement for abortion increases the chance that girls who become pregnant will put themselves at risk if they feel they can't talk to their parents.
     "Young women have been abused, beaten or even killed" after their parents found out about an unwanted pregnancy, Keiser said.
She is a sponsor of the Reproductive Parity Act in the Senate.
     A pregnant teen may run away, attempt suicide or try to do an abortion on herself if she feels she can't seek help from her parents, Jennifer Allen of Planned Parenthood said.
     "Most teens in Washington and around the country involve their parents in their pregnancy decisions," Allen said, but when they don't, "the most important thing is that they're safe."
     Benton said after a similar bill he introduced more than a decade ago was held up in the House of Representatives after passing in the Senate, many of his constituents and colleagues asked him to try again.
"I'm the only senator to pass a parental notification bill," he said.
     Similar laws already exist in Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.
     The bill is scheduled for a public hearing before the Senate Law and Justice Committee at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 6.
     HB 1044, the House version of the Reproductive Parity Act, would mandate health insurance plans that cover live births also cover abortions. It is slated for a public hearing before the House Healthcare and Wellness Committee on Jan. 31.
     A similar bill introduced in the Senate, SB 5009, has not yet been scheduled for a hearing with that chamber's Health Care Committee.
     Washington has a law establishing the right to choose an abortion. Every health care provider in the state currently provides coverage for abortion services, Sara Kiesler of Planned Parenthood said.
     Seattle Rep. Eileen Cody, D-34th District, the primary sponsor of the House bill, said that after health insurance exchanges are expected to open in October 2013, providers may raise prices or stop covering abortions because of restrictions on federal money being used to fund the procedure.
     Benton, who opposes the bill, called that argument specious.
     "It addresses no problem that currently exists," he said. "There's not one single insurance company that doesn't cover it."
     Health insurance exchanges are part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (known as Obamacare), which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010.
     Reproductive rights advocates are uncertain how insurance companies may react to the act's requirements and want to make sure access to abortion is preserved.
     "It's absolutely vital that Washington women have really strong reproductive parity rights," said Keiser, a co-sponsor of the Senate bill.
     Conservative groups such as the Family Policy Institute of Washington say the bill would infringe upon the rights of those morally opposed to abortion by forcing them to pay for coverage they don't want.
     Keiser said women have the right to abortion access.
     "We have a very strong ethic of individual rights in our state," she said.