ATLANTA - The abortion Casey Grist had at age 19 seemed like a blur. Trying to keep her family and friends from finding out about the unplanned pregnancy, Ms. Grist moved quickly to have the procedure.
Years later, she now says she wasn't prepared for the decision she made.
"It happened so fast," Ms. Grist recalled. "I didn't meet the doctor up front, and I paid cash. I wasn't told about adoption."
Worse, she said, no one told her about the medical risks associated with abortion.
Hours after the surgery she described as "really painful," Ms. Grist began bleeding profusely. The abortion she had secretly sought to have was incomplete, and Ms. Grist ended up in an emergency room for a second operation.
"I had to tell everyone," said a tearful Ms. Grist, speaking last week to a committee of Georgia lawmakers who were deciding whether to move forward with a measure requiring tighter restrictions on abortion.
Under proposed legislation carried by Rep. Sue Burmeister, R-Augusta, and Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, women seeking abortions in Georgia would have to go through a 24-hour waiting period before having the procedure.
During that time, the woman would have to hear from a physician about the alternatives to abortion - including adoption and child support - and the medical complications that can result from an abortion. The bill also would require physicians to provide women with information about fetal pain and show pictures of the fetus at its approximate stage of development.
SOME ABORTION-RIGHTS advocates have called the proposed provisions insulting to women and point out that much of the information required by the bill already is being offered to patients.
"It is naive ... to think that women don't think through their decisions," said Dr. Joel Engel, an Atlanta obstetrician-gynecologist who spoke to lawmakers in opposition of the bill. "This is not a drive-through procedure."
Still, Ms. Grist told lawmakers she would have valued more information before her abortion, adding that doctors who provided her with follow-up care offered extensive medical information.
"I didn't consider that harassment. I considered it respect," she said.
The testimony of Ms. Grist and Dr. Engel is part of a new chapter in the debate over abortion restrictions in Georgia.
Over the decades when Democrats ruled the state, their party avoided bringing up abortion legislation for a vote, knowing such bills would fracture their caucus by pitting rural lawmakers supporting the restrictions against their urban colleagues.
But after last year's elections in which Republicans took complete control of state government for the first time in 134 years, GOP-crafted bills on tougher abortion rules appear to be gaining momentum in the 2005 legislative session.
"The biggest difference now is that we can at least get a hearing," said House Majority Leader Jerry Keen, R-St. Simons Island. "The previous leadership steadfastly refused to allow a vote on the issue to come to the floor, and they did it for their own internal politics."
The bill lawmakers are debating is actually a combination of two bills that House Democrats succeeded in thwarting two years ago. Besides the 24-hour waiting period, the legislation also contains tougher rules on parental notification for minors seeking an abortion.
Some Democrats have expressed concern over the Republican-led efforts to address abortion laws in 2005.
"I don't think they'll try to reform or revamp the entire pro-choice/pro-life issue, but chisel away at it," said House Minority Caucus Chairman Calvin Smyre, D-Columbus. "The jury is still out on how far the debate will go and how heated the debate will be."
FOR NOW, THE BILL requiring tougher parental notification rules and a 24-hour waiting period is the only abortion-related bill that GOP leaders in both the House and Senate have pledged to bring forward for a vote in 2005.
That bill is being widely criticized by abortion-rights advocates for failing to make exceptions for victims of incest or rape.
"We're very concerned this bill has a one-size-fits-all approach to counseling," said Janelle Yamarick, the community services director for the Feminist Women's Health Center in Atlanta. "That doesn't take into account specific situations."
Reach Brian Basinger at (404) 681-1701 or brian.basinger@morris.com.
Abortions performed on minors accounted for 6.2 percent of all abortions in Georgia during 2001. Here's a breakdown of abortions among teens:
Age-- Number of abortions
17-year-olds --795
16-year-olds -- 589
15-year-olds -- 388
14 and under -- 305
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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