2002-06-21                     Senate Journal                      Page 3742
SB 364                                                                                            
Message dated and received June 5, stating                                                          
                                                                                                    
Under the authority of art. II. Sec. 15, of the Alaska Constitution, I                              
have vetoed the following bill:                                                                     
                                                                                                    
               SENATE BILL NO. 364 "An Act relating to medical                                     
         services under the state Medicaid program."                                                
                                                                                                    
This bill is the most recent attempt by the Alaska Legislature to                                   
override court decisions and deny women their constitutionally                                      
protected right to safe, legal abortions. Those legislators who oppose a                            
woman's right to choice continue to chip away at that right by trying to                            
limit access to abortions. I must, once again, cry foul at this                                     
unconstitutional effort.                                                                            
                                                                                                    
This bill would create two classes of Medicaid-eligible women for                                   
whom an abortion is medically necessary: those for whom a doctor is                                 
willing to certify the necessity of the abortion based on vague,                                    
nonmedical statutory terminology, and those for whom the doctor is                                  
unwilling or unable to do so.                                                                       
                                                                                                    
This legislation flies in the face of the Alaska Supreme Court's 2001                               
decision in State v. Planned Parenthood and is likely to be found                                   
unconstitutional because it:                                                                        
                                                                                                    
                                                                                                    
                                                                                                    
                                                                                                    
                                                                                                    
                                                                                                    

2002-06-21                     Senate Journal                      Page 3743
     · Selectively denies payment for medically necessary treatment                                 
         to Medicaid eligible women;                                                                
     · Fails to use neutral criteria in establishing the standards for                              
         paying for abortions; and                                                                  
     · Creates differential treatment for payment for services under                                
         Medicaid provided to pregnant women who do not meet the                                    
         strict limitations set out in the statute.                                                 
                                                                                                    
I also believe the bill could be struck down as unconstitutionally                                  
vague. This bill describes the factors to determine medical necessity                               
for payment in terms that are not customarily used in the medical                                   
profession nor even possible to calculate. It requires absolute certainty                           
in determining that without an abortion, a woman's physical health                                  
would be seriously endangered. The restrictions placed on                                           
psychological health are even more vague and limiting to the point of                               
being offensive to the medical profession.                                                          
                                                                                                    
Physicians testified that the language in this legislation does not                                 
conform to the type of determinations a physician must make and the                                 
type of advice a physician usually provides to a patient. It therefore                              
sets out unworkable standards that should not be imposed on the                                     
practice of medicine.                                                                               
                                                                                                    
With this bill, the Alaska Legislature is placing personal views on                                 
morality ahead of the Constitution and trying to practice medicine by                               
dictating what procedures and diagnoses doctors may or may not                                      
render. Most notably, with this bill the Legislature is trying to insert                            
itself into a decision that is and should be of the utmost privacy-                                 
between a woman and her physician.                                                                  
                                                                                                    
Sincerely,                                                                                          
/s/                                                                                                 
Tony Knowles                                                                                        
Governor