Alaska Senate Panel Rebuts Abortion ‘Expert’s’ Testimony
An effort by an anti-abortion state senator to restrict state-funded abortions using state law, not a doctor’s opinion, to define what is “medically necessary” was sharply challenged Wednesday during a legislative hearing.
Sen. John Coghill, R-Fairbanks, is the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 49 and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the measure drew support from three out-of-state experts — two doctors and a psychologist — handpicked by Coghill.
Sen. Bill Wielechowski of Anchorage, the only Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, aggressively confronted all three, at one point asking the psychologist whether her research linking abortion to mental problems had been “decisively debunked.”
In Alaska, the fight to restrict abortion has been raging for years. Coghill said Wednesday he’s long been stymied by the bipartisan Senate coalition, which conservatives succeeded in dismantling after the November election. Now Republicans rule the Senate and House and he’s in charge of Judiciary.
“I wanted to get my side showing that I had thought through the health care issue,” Coghill said. That’s important because his bill isn’t being heard by the Senate Health and Social Services Committee, Coghill said. Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka and the newly tapped health panel chairman, is generally more interested in oil taxes than social causes and said he requested it not be sent to his committee.
More: JUNEAU, Alaska: Alaska Senate Panel Rebuts Abortion Experts’ Testimony