House gives preliminary OK to abortion ultrasound bill

By: Olympia Meola | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: February 13, 2012

The Virginia House of Delegates today gave preliminary approval to a measure requiring a woman to receive an ultrasound before having an abortion.

Members advanced the bill to a final vote on Tuesday after rejecting an amendment proposed by Del. David L. Englin, D-Alexandria, to require a woman's consent before undergoing a trans-vaginal ultrasound.

"Most of us, when we think about an ultrasound, we think about what people refer to as the jelly on the belly ultrasound," Englin said, adding that during the first 8-10 weeks of pregnancy, the only way to perform an ultrasound is a trans-vaginal.

"What we're simply trying to do is say that before a woman in this commonwealth is vaginally penetrated against her consent, she has to consent to that," he said. "How difficult a moral concept is that to say before you perform an invasive procedure on our wives and our daughters, you have to get that woman who you're going to use a probe inside, to sign a piece of paper saying, 'yes I consent to having this done to my body'."

Del. Kathy J. Byron, R-Campbell, sponsored the bill and urged rejection of the amendment.

"If we want to talk about invasiveness, there's nothing more invasive than the procedure that she is about to have," Byron said.

"If you have a consent to a procedure that is going to give information to the informed consent law, you're basically undoing the informed consent law."

Under the House bill, a woman is given the choice to view and receive a printed copy of the ultrasound image. A similar bill already passed the Senate this session.