EDITORIAL: Sen. King’s detestable lobbying against life

(Editor’s note: SB 2400 has been scheduled for consideration in the Florida Senate on April 24.)

Killing legislation that would require women seeking abortions during the first trimester to have an ultrasound apparently has become a personal crusade for Sen. Jim King (R-Jacksonville). The former Senate president is seeking to recruit enough fellow Republicans to stop the pro-life bill offered by retiring Sen. Daniel Webster (R-Winter Garden).

It appears the vote on Webster’s bill, SB 2400, will be very close, and may come as early as the week of April 21.

While I can respect a senator who conscientiously must vote against a pro-life bill, King appears to believe it is his personal duty to use his considerable power to aggressively lobby other senators to his side against Webster’s ultrasound bill. For this, I have no respect.

King’s detestable efforts to rally moderate Republicans against the bill were first reported April 16 by the Miami Herald. The next day, the Tampa Tribune also reported on King’s crusade.

Current Florida law already requires an ultrasound for women seeking an abortion during the second and third trimester. Webster’s bill includes a provision permitting women to sign a waiver to decline to see the ultrasound image.

For related coverage, click image.

The measure was approved narrowly by two Senate committees and is ready for floor consideration. But King, the powerful chairman of the Rules Committee “has approached moderate Republicans to find out if they’ll join Democrats to vote no” reported the Herald. King is rallying GOP senators against their own majority leader in the Senate.

“If a woman wants to have an ultrasound it should be at her request. I don’t think there’s any woman who goes to an abortion clinic for an abortion who hasn’t agonized over some of those things already. And she shouldn’t have to jump through extra hoops that nobody else has to jump through,” said King, according to Herald-Tribune.com.

King told the Tribune he “hates” a vote on this kind of measure during an election year. “This of all years is not a year to be divisive. My question is, is it absolutely necessary to do now?” King said.

For pro-life Floridians, requiring women during all stages of pregnancy to be fully educated with the most advanced information available concerning a life-altering decision – both for the mother and the unborn child, to say the least – is the right thing to do any year. With about 95,000 abortions annually in Florida, this bill should have been adopted long ago.

Some moderate Republicans recruited by King complain the bill forces women to pay an additional fee for their abortion, but they ought to know better.

During consideration of the bill by the Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee on April 15, Webster cited a non-partisan staff analysis that found 82 percent of abortion clinics already require ultrasounds during the first trimester. Rather than providing women the best information possible about their unborn child, abortion clinics use the device as a means of setting the price of the abortion.

“The age of the fetus inside the womb is how they determine the price; the older, the higher the price – starts at $350 and goes up,” Webster noted.

Of the other 18 percent of abortion clinics, half were not available when surveyed and the rest performed ultrasounds, but did not require them.

“But every single clinic that could answer the question that was open for business said, ‘we do an ultrasound.’ So, there’s no real invasion here of privacy, of doing a test that supposedly the doctor would decide. No, the clinic has already decided. It’s required. You have to do it,” Webster told the committee, refuting another bogus criticism of the bill – privacy.

King told the Herald he has recruited nine Republican senators against the bill, but told the Tribune he had only “steadfast” commitments from six. King declined to name the nine.

King is a long-time nemesis of pro-life forces in Tallahassee. Most notoriously, the Jacksonville Republican killed legislation – also sponsored by Webster – which attempted to save the life of Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged woman who died in 2005 after a multi-year battle between her parents and husband.

In March 2005, in a last-ditch effort to pass legislation protecting Schiavo, King recruited eight other Republican senators to join him in opposing Webster’s bill. The senators became know as the “Republican Nine.” I wrote about King and the “Republican Nine” in a March 24, 2005, editorial.

It seems these “Republican Nine” are King’s target for his considerable lobbying efforts against Webster’s ultrasound bill. Who are these nine senators?

Nancy Argenziano is no longer in the Senate; she was replaced by Sen. Charlie Dean (R-Inverness).

Two, Sen. J.D. Alexander (R-Winter Haven) and Sen. Burt Saunders (R-Naples), voted in favor of Webster’s bill in their respective committees. Alexander confirmed to the Tribune he will vote on the floor for Webster’s ultrasound bill.

Sen. Dennis Jones (R-Seminole) voted in committee against the bill.

Sen. Mike Bennett (R-Bradenton) told the Herald he opposed the bill apart from King’s effort and Sen. Paula Dockery (R-Lakeland) told the Tribune she would vote “no.”

Sen. Lisa Carlton (R-Sarasota) and Sen. Evelyn Lynn (R-Daytona Beach) are undecided or their position is unknown.

With only one of the Senate’s 14 Democrats known to be in favor of the bill – Sen. Gary Siplin (D-Orlando) – if King really has six Republican votes, together with 13 Democrats, he only needs one more senator to kill the bill in the 40-member chamber, since 21 votes are required for passage.

Webster told the Herald he would insist on a floor vote, no matter the outcome.

“I’m going to give it everything I’ve got and bring it to a vote and let [senators] decide. This Legislature was set up not to be a battleground for any thing other than ideas. It’s not a battleground of personalities,” Webster said.

According to Herald-Tribune.com, Gov. Charlie Crist was non-committal on Webster’s bill on April 15, saying: “Let’s see what happens in the Senate first.” The House of Representatives passed a similar bill April 2.

Webster, a longtime member of First Baptist Church of Central Florida in Orlando, is serving in his last regular legislative session as term limits prevent him extending his 28-year, distinguished career in both the Senate and House of Representatives, where he served as Speaker of the House.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I note that Webster recently joined the 15-member Witness Board of Directors. Like all board members, however, he has no role in previewing or dictating editorial content, and he is completely unaware of this editorial.)

In one committee hearing, Webster rejected an opponent’s suggestion that he saw the ultrasound bill as an attempt to buttress his legislative legacy, saying he was “just trying to do good public policy.”

Indeed, Webster’s sterling legacy needs no further burnishing. He is a true statesman who has served his constituents superbly. Still, it is incredible that King would work so vigorously to oppose Webster on a priority bill in his last legislative session.

More important than a retiring senator’s legislative legacy are the lives of women and unborn children who would benefit from Webster’s bill. Tragically, without Webster’s bill, some unborn children literally will have no legacy.

Let’s pray a majority of the Senate and Gov. Crist put the interest of women and unborn children above King’s detestable lobbying efforts.