Panel backs bill to require ultrasound before abortion

Women seeking abortions would be required to have an ultrasound first under a bill that narrowly cleared the Senate Education and Health Committee on Thursday.

Senate Bill 484, sponsored by Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Fauquier, and its companion, Senate Bill 279, sponsored by Sen. Ralph K. Smith, R-Botetourt, passed along party lines, with the committee's eight Republicans supporting the measures and its seven Democrats casting "no" votes.

The combined legislation now goes before the full Senate for consideration.

Currently, women are not required to have an ultrasound to obtain an abortion, but they may elect to do so. Under the proposed legislation a woman would not have that choice, but would not be obligated to view the ultrasound image.

Thursday's vote marked the most significant example to date of the impact of Republican control over the committee, which Democrats had led for the previous four years.

"For the first time in nearly a decade, the Senate Education and Health Committee today passed a significant pro-life proposal," said Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation of Virginia.

"Giving a woman access to the most advanced medical technology available, including an ultrasound, can only ensure that her health is protected and that she can make her decision regarding an abortion with all the information available."

NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia said the bill is designed to "shame" a woman for contemplating an abortion by using an ultrasound to manipulate a woman's emotions at a vulnerable time. "These transparent attempts to put up roadblocks to women's access and their rights are outright immoral and undemocratic," said Executive Director Tarina Keene.

The Virginia League of Planned Parenthood also criticized the vote.

"We are opposed to politicians telling doctors how to perform medicine," said Courtney E. Jones, manager of grass-roots organizing at Virginia League for Planned Parenthood.

"If politicians were truly concerned about women's health and access to information, they would join with Planned Parenthood to expand access to the preventive and reproductive health care services that women need to plan healthy families."

Democrats, backed by women's rights advocates, in past years had used their majority on the committee to defeat any bill that sought to further restrict, regulate or otherwise outlaw women's access to abortion services. On Thursday, Republicans, backed by anti-abortion advocates, used their 8-7 edge to win passage of the legislation, which now heads to the full Senate.

Proponents of the legislation said it is necessary to more fully inform women considering an abortion of their medical status before they consent to the procedure, arguing that it would be possible to mistake the length of pregnancies without having an ultrasound.

Opponents said ultrasounds are not medically necessary to assess the status of a pregnancy and that doctors should be given the discretion to decide whether they are needed. Moreover, they argued that the informed-consent rationale offered by supporters was a thinly veiled excuse for the true aim of the legislation — to discourage women from exercising their legal right to terminate their pregnancy.

Other bills related to abortion are expected to come before the committee this session, including one that seeks to restrict abortions beyond 20 weeks.

In the House of Delegates, Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, has proposed legislation that would grant the rights of "personhood" to a human embryo at the moment of conception.