Mar 24, 2008

Proposed law may assist pregnant women

May park in handicap spots; pregnancy would qualify as 'temporary disability'

By Edwin Garcia / Bay Area News Group

Like many shoppers, Luz Mara Solis of Sunnyvale drives circles around parking lots in search of a space near store entrances.

It's becoming increasingly important to find the up-close parking: The mother of two toddlers is 7 1/2 months pregnant, and walking long distances is getting more taxing on her lungs, more painful on her feet.

What if she, and other women in their third trimester of pregnancy, could park in a spot reserved for the disabled? That's what a Southern California lawmaker is proposing to his colleagues in the state Legislature, though his measure is getting a chilly reception among interest groups outside the Capitol.

AB1940 would declare all women in their final three months of pregnancy, and through their first two months after giving birth, as having a "temporary disability." They could then pay $6 to the Department of Motor Vehicles to access any disabled spot in California marked with a blue and white wheelchair symbol for that five-month period.

"Oh my God, I would totally take advantage of it," Solis, a 41-year-old attorney, said. "I'd be waiting for the person who had parked there before me to take that spot. I don't care if gas is $4 a gallon, and if my car is idling."

The proposed law, similar to a measure that failed four years ago, is drawing criticism from some advocates for the disabled, who say blue-zone parking is in short supply; from women's rights groups, who dislike labeling pregnancy as a disability; and from a coalition of ob-gyns, who encourage their patients to exercise.

"Overall, physicians want pregnant women to be active, so this bill is actually counterproductive," said Shannon Smith-Crowley, legislative advocate for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists chapter in California.

If a woman's hips become too painful or she has other discomfort related to being pregnant, Smith-Crowley said, her doctor can authorize the DMV to issue a disabled placard, thus making the proposed law unnecessary.

Pregnancy parking permits have been a tough sell elsewhere. Georgia is believed to be the only state with such a law, though several other legislatures have tried to pass similar legislation.

Some stores in the region, such as Babies R Us, and some malls, however, offer so-called stork parking near entrances.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, proposed his bill after the idea was given to him by a pregnant mother in Orange County. He calls the measure a "common sense law" for women who run errands for their households.

"It just seems like an appropriate use of what we have developed in law, disabled parking, to assist those people who need it the most," said DeVore, 45 and a father of two.

The DMV has issued more than 2.6 million temporary placards, permanent placards, disabled license plates and disabled veteran's license plates.

A total of 562,157 babies were born in California in 2006, according to the state Department of Finance.

By DeVore's calculation, labeling pregnant women temporarily disabled will increase the number of placards by 8.8 percent -- a "very modest expansion," he says.

But advocates for the disabled disagree.

"The reality of it is, it's going to cause more problems than create opportunities," said Bonnie Lewkowicz, director of Berkeley-based Access Northern California. "There currently is not enough parking for people with disabilities, with the rampant misuse of placards, doctors giving them up willy-nilly to whoever, our increasingly obese society; it's really becoming problematic."

DeVore's intention is "admirable," she says, but issuing more placards, "is just going to pit one user group against another user group."

DeVore is scheduled to present his measure to the Assembly Transportation Committee today.