An amendment which would erase age limitations on the Family Planning Access Act was adopted with a 5-4 vote, Thursday.
Debate over House Bill 2583 began in the Senate Health and Human Resources committee following a request from Sen. Ron Stollings, D-Boone, to amend a strike and insert amendment which was proposed by counsel earlier in the meeting.
Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, then raised concerns over the proposed amendment, directing caution to the possibility of a child obtaining and using a contraceptive without the consent or knowledge of their parent of guardian. Rucker then explained that after the bill arrived in the Senate, she consulted the sponsors of the bill who said they wouldn’t like to see the age requirement removed.
Following conversation with her fellow Senator from Boone, Rucker then stated that she wouldn’t be able to support the legislation following the adoption of Stollings’ amendment, citing the amendment could potentially cause the legislation to be rejected.
Prior to it’s adoption, Stollings furthered urged adoption of the bill by stating that if rejected, the bill would potentially contribute to the state child welfare crisis.
“We’re putting up a barrier if we support the age standard found in this bill,” Stollings said. “We have a major child welfare crisis in this state and I believe that teen pregnancy is a direct contributor. Putting up a age limit will establishing another barrier for the girls in our state.”
Following the adoption of the amendment, the committee motioned to report the bill to the full Senate with the recommendation of passage, in addition to House Bills 2490, 2954, 2407 and 2770.
Immediately following consideration of the Family Planning Access Act, multiple industry representatives came before members to explain House Bill 3131, a relating to salary adjustments to employee of the Department of Health and Human Resources. After lengthy discussion of the bill, members moved to adopt a committee amendment prior to reporting the bill to the full body.
Also passed by the committee were two study resolutions relating to defibrillators in public schools and the causation, diagnosis and compensation of black lung.
