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By Michael Sluss
RICHMOND
The Republican-dominated House of Delegates is poised to pass legislation declaring that life begins at conception, despite concerns by some Democrats that the bill's broad language could affect access to certain types of birth control.
The House advanced the legislation (HB1) on a voice vote Monday, setting up a vote today on the bill's passage. Today is the final day for each house of the General Assembly to act on its own legislation. Social issues have been major flashpoints in the first half of the legislative session.
The House on Monday also advanced legislation (HB462) that would require a woman to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion. The Senate already has passed an identical measure and Gov. Bob McDonnell has expressed support for the legislation, which abortion-rights advocates have denounced as an intrusive government mandate on doctors and pregnant women.
The House passed the "personhood" bill and the ultrasound requirement last year, but both measures were stymied in Democrat-controlled Senate committees. Republicans now control the Senate, tipping the balance in debates over abortion and other contentious social issues.
The bill, sponsored by Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William County, states that unborn children "at every stage of development" have the same rights as other individuals except where the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Supreme Court interpretations, or state laws say otherwise.
Marshall, an outspoken social conservative, said the bill is modeled on a Missouri statute that has been in place for more than two decades without compromising access to birth control or legal abortions.
"The claim that using birth control will get you in trouble with this statute is simply false," Marshall said during the House floor debate on the bill. "The purpose of this is to provide a rule of construction for courts. The main legal effect of this is to allow recovery for wrongful death, although that's not the main purpose of the measure."
Marshall's bill expressly states that it "shall be interpreted as affecting lawful assisted conception."
But the House voted not to take up an amendment proposed by Del. Vivian Watts, D-Fairfax County, to clarify that the bill would not apply to "lawful contraception." Watts raised concerns that the law could be interpreted as banning contraceptive methods that prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg. Intrauterine devices, or IUDs, and birth-control pills can work in that manner.
"In passing this bill without defining the protection for contraception which may prevent a fertilized egg from implanting, you are voting against birth control," Watts said.
Del. Jennifer McClellan said the bill "requires every single code section in Virginia that uses the word 'person' to apply to a fetus."
"That opens families and doctors to a wide variety of criminal and civil lawsuits for health care decisions not only in cases of unwanted pregnancies, but every pregnancy and even miscarriage," McClellan said in a statement.
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This bill will require many
This bill will require many women in Virginia to undergo vaginal penetration with an ultrasound probe against their consent in order to exercise their constitutional right to an abortion, even for nonsurgical, noninvasive, pharmaceutical abortions. This kind of government intrusion shocks the conscience and demonstrates the disturbing lengths Republican legislators will go to prevent women from controlling their own reproductive destiny.
I hope voters will remember this vote and hold them accountable for their hypocrisy.
---- Del. David Elgin
Confused
So we are broke as a country, yet we now are going to require a very expenive ultraound prior to an abortion. I work in the healthcare industry and recruit ultrasound techs. They begin at 80K and go up to 100K.
So now with the mandatory test, employers health insurance experience will increase, therefore, annual premiuims. And who is going to pay for the medicaid patients?
This is insanity....keep the pro-lifers out of government. An abortion is a woman's choice. They think by mandating an ultrasound, that the wowman is going to look at the picture and change her mind....this is really a sick way of blackmail. Next they will amend the bill and make it a 3D ultrasound so the woman can REALLY see the "fetus" they are about to murder.
Being broke.
Being broke financially as a country is far better than being broke morally. Once the latter is gone nothing else matters.
Abortion guidelines are issued in law...
...therefore, intrusive government mandates on doctors and pregnant women not included in the Supreme Court ruling on abortion are abusive and wrong.
Continued attack on the autonomy of women for political gain
This type of legislation is an attack on the autonomy of women and anyone who believes in the Bill of Rights should resist strongly the abuse of political power that is being wielded. I believe the government has an obligation to protect the "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" of every independent life. A zygote, embryo, or fetus is not a baby with an independent life. Each is a stage in a biological process that, if all goes well, will result in an independent life that is then due the governmental protections of individual rights. A woman is uniquely equipped to facilitate this biological process, but this capacity should in no way make her constitutional rights subordinate to a person who does not yet exist.
Moral watch is next
Next bill to be put forth is that anyone purchasing condoms will will have to prove they are unmarried, and intend to use them for entertainment purposes only, not for birthcontrol purposes. At each retail facility that sells condoms, there will be, on duty, a representative of the Moral police who will puncture each condom of any suspected purchaser.
Historically,
the old machines located in truck stop restrooms all had the caveat "For the prevention of disease only". Can pregnancy be classified as an STD?
Personhood Bill
Bob Marshall has always been a miserable human being. He has a history in the VA legislature of putting forth legislation that is restrictive to the rights of women and most of what comes out of his mouth is militant and the worst form of "unchristian" behavior. Ask him how he treats his own family. It is scary that he keeps getting re-elected. The Personhood amendment, like so much of the legislation that gets drafted in the middle of the night, would adversely affect the work that is being done to help women conceive, not just stop abortions. It is my hope that VA will not go so far right or left as to set themselves up as a test case for Constitutionality in the Supreme Court.
Abortion is green
I appreciate every woman that treats an unwanted pregnancy like it should be treated. If it's going to be a burden in your life then just cut it off and get rid of it. If you say it's a living thing well so is cancer or a genital wart. If you get rid of that, then I protest you and say stop playing God.
Difference.
You conveniently left out one big difference. Cancer attacks your body with the intent to harm or kill you. A child in a mother's womb is the most innocent thing in the world and has no intent to harm anyone. Another big, big difference is that cancer is very resistant to attempts to kill it where as the child has no defense at all. That you can have no shame saddens me. As far as the wart goes that is just inhumane to compare that with a baby. How gross. You really should keep some of your thoughts to your self.