Several pieces of legislation that would have restricted access to abortion in the state were defeated by Virginia Senate Democrats on Thursday in a sequence of crucial votes, including a proposed 15-week ban with exceptions that was a top priority for Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin.
Since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year, these are the first significant legislative votes in Virginia. The votes indicate that, barring an extraordinary procedural maneuver, it is doubtful that such limits will be implemented this year in Virginia, which now has some of the laxest abortion regulations in the South.
Sen. L. Louise Lucas stated at a news conference following the hearing, “The brick wall will stand strong and these radical bills will never pass as long as Senate Democrats have our majority.”
The Republican-controlled House of Delegates is still considering many similar bills, but they have not yet started to go forward. Anything that passes the House will probably fail in the Senate as well.
Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert stated early this year that he did not anticipate much abortion-related action this year due to Virginia’s divided government.
Youngkin’s spokesperson Macaulay Porter claimed that Senate Democrats were moving against the wishes of Virginians who desire “a sensible compromise” on the matter and that they had “solidified their extremist position.”
Right now, Virginia law permits abortions in the first and second trimesters. Only if many doctors declare that carrying the pregnancy to term is likely to “substantially and irremediably” harm the woman’s mental or physical health or cause her death may the procedure be carried out during the third trimester.
The three bills were defeated on Thursday by the Senate Committee on Education and Health, which Lucas chairs, on a party-line vote and without discussion after a subcommittee had heard testimony and recommended that they be defeated.
Abortions beyond 15 weeks would have been prohibited under the Youngkin-supported bill, which was sponsored by Republican Sen. Steve Newman. Rape, incest, and the woman’s life or physical well-being would have been the only exceptions. A class four felony, punishable by two to ten years in jail and a fine of up to $100,000, would be committed by any physician who violated the law.
