Going into this assignment I thought it would be a breeze. I planned on having a neutral party explain the bill and then lay out the arguments for and against the legislation.
Well, the people I called from several health departments refused to comment on the bill due to its controversial nature which made me realize it was time to dig deeper. I had covered the Vagina Monologues Protest at the Capitol so I had plenty of the anti-5711 sentiment, but finding someone for was in favor of the restricting bill was going to be difficult.
I called Representatives Stamas, Bolger and Senator Jones to get a quick interview, Senator Jones returned my calls and was incredibly helpful in setting up a time to come in.
I had only heard anti-bill opinions, I was very curious to hear his side of the story. Senator Jones was very informative, the way he expressed his thoughts on the bill was nothing but straightforward reasons. He wants clinics to be licensed. He wants doctors to be physically present during the entire abortion process. He wants fetuses to be buried or cremated.
Senator Jones seemed like your kindly uncle, not the right-crushing Republican I had been warned about. The more I learned about the House Bill, the less I knew about where I sided. It is going to be very interesting to see how this develops in the next few months.
