ULTRASOUND LAW FOES THWARTED — AGAIN
Effort to end abortion requirement dies in committee
Each year in the General Assembly, the fates of thousands of bills rest in the hands of the committees where they’re sent.
The majority party in the Senate and the speaker in the House determine who sits on those committees, which is why — for the past six years — one Hampton Roads lawmaker’s bill that would end forced ultrasounds before abortions has failed to make it into law.
Almost every year, Sen. Mamie Locke, a Hampton Democrat, introduces legislation to reverse a bill passed in 2012 that requires women to undergo an ultrasound before an abortion and be shown an image of the fetus.
Locke told The Virginian-Pilot earlier this month she didn’t expect the bill to make it out of committee; but she said it’s important to keep it on the General Assembly’s radar because “women should
be making their own choices in regards to their own health care.”
Her prediction was correct. On Thursday, after hearing from advocates and opponents, the Senate Education and Health committee again voted along party lines — with no discussion — not to send the bill to the full Senate for a vote.
Locke sits on that committee, which has seven Democrats and eight Republicans.
This year, as she does every year, Locke presented her case: that the ultrasounds are medically unnecessary and meant solely to shame women from getting the procedure.
“This bill recognizes that after receiving medically appropriate counseling and information from her physician or health care provider, it is not in the patient’s best interest to force her to receive additional nonmedical information; wait an unnecessary, stateimposed period of time; or undergo an unnecessary ultrasound procedure if she and her doctor do not believe such actions would add to her ability to make an informed medical decision,” she said.
“Women know what they are doing, they are smart enough to know what they are doing, and they don’t need the state government to tell them what to do.”
New year, same result
In 2013, the bill was carried by then-Sen. Ralph Northam and died on a party-line vote. All eight Republicans who voted against the bill were men.
In 2014, with Sen. Louise Lucas as chair and Democrats in the majority on the committee, the bill went a little further. After passing out of committee on a party line vote, it went to a tie vote on the floor, with then-Sen. John Watkins, R-Midlothian, breaking rank.
It then went the House, where it was referred to a Courts of Justice subcommittee and died on a voice vote.
In 2015, the Senate committee makeup committee changed again, and this time the eight Republicans — all men again — killed the bill.
The following three years saw the same results, although two Republican women — Amanda Chase and Siobhan Dunnavant — joined the committee.
Sen. Jennifer McClellan, DRichmond, has filed similar bills throughout the years, and her bill was also defeated in committee Thursday.
She compared abortions to other medical procedures, such as the colonoscopy she recently had, that aren’t regulated through the criminal code.
Under current state law, physicians who fail to do an ultrasound before an abortion are fined $2,500.
“We didn’t need a criminal statute for my provider to do what was necessary to keep me safe,” she said.
McClellan’s bill went further than Locke’s. In addition to suspending the ultrasound requirement, it would have eliminated two abortion requirements: that a second-trimester abortion be done in a hospital, and that before a third-trimester abortion two physicians must certify the procedure is necessary to prevent the woman’s death.
“You don’t get to the third trimester and seek an abortion lightly,” McClellan said. “You don’t get to the third trimester and wake up and say, ‘I’ve changed my mind.’ You seek an abortion because something has gone horribly wrong.”
In a press conference for reproductive rights held an hour after her bill was shot down, McClellan said she’d be back next year with the same legislation. Del. Kathy Tran, D-Springfield, and Del. Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, introduced the same legislation, set to be heard by the House Courts of Justice committee.
Hopes for 2020
With an eye on this year’s elections, when all 140 legislators are up for re-election, Attorney General Mark Herring, Gov. Ralph Northam and Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax — all pro-abortion rights Democrats — made references to a different General Assembly makeup in 2020 at the press conference.
Fairfax said the legislation would have a “very different outcome” next year.
“When we can’t change people’s minds, we need to change seats,” Northam said.
Pro-abortion rights advocates have their eye on the seat now held by Sen. Dick Black, RLoudon, who announced his retirement earlier this month. Black’s been on the Senate Education and Health committee since 2012. His Senate District 13 went 55 percent for Northam in 2017.
NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, a reproductive health and rights organization, is hopeful about the possibility of Democrats taking over.
“I don’t think we were surprised (the bills failed) this year, but we’re excited about next year in 2020 and the potential of having a pro-choice Senate and education committee as well as a pro-choice-majority Senate and being able to pass reproductive freedom legislation,” NARAL spokeswoman Michelle Woods said.
Opponents of the bills, including the Family Foundation of Virginia, said Thursday that doing ultrasounds helps women make better-informed decisions and reduces abortion rates.
Olivia Gans Turner, president of the Virginia Society for Human Life, comes to Richmond every year to argue against the bill.
She and past president Louise Hartz said they are “very concerned” about the balance of power shifting to Democrats after the 2019 elections. Republicans hold a slim two-seat majority in both chambers.
“We’ve seen the balance of power switch over the years, and we don’t go away when the balance of power shifts,” Turner said. “In fact, our work becomes even more intensely concerned about protective action.”