This week the Virginia Senate voted to kill three bills that provided women with more information when making decisions about their pregnancy and also shockingly rejected a bill that would provide reasonable medical care to the born alive baby who survived an abortion attempt. None of these bills prevented any woman from obtaining an abortion.
The House of Delegates passed all three bills before crossover. These rational and compassionate bills were met with the extremist views of Virginia Democrat Senators led by Sen. Louise Lucas who made jokes earlier in the session about her plan to “toss any new pro-life bills in the trash”. The bills were summarily defeated in the Senate Education and Health or Rules committee this week on party lines.
Del. Nick Freitas patroned the Born Alive Abortion Survivors bill again his year. Two years in a row Democrat extremists in the House and Senate ignored the testimony of individuals who actually did survive abortions. Del. Freitas decried the cold hearted treatment the bill received in the Senate saying, “Maybe it’s time we start asking the abortion industry what terrifies them so much about making sure that a child who survives an abortion attempt is provided basic medical care.”
The other bills were both intended to help women have the information they need to make a totally informed decision about a pregnancy. Del. Karen Greenhaulgh’s bill would have restored basic requirements about critical information regarding the stage of a woman’s pregnancy, the development of her unborn child as well as possible risks of various types of abortions, and other reseources available if she wants to carry the baby to term. It also required that an abortionist must tell her of her legal right to carry if she was facing any coercion or pressure to abort.
Del. Tara Durants bill was a simple bill that required the Dept. of Health to establish and maintain a website that lists free support services and programs in the Commonwealth that offer assistance to the woman and her child at little or no cost through pregnancy and childhood.
“The fact that the Virginia Senate refused to support these rational bills is a clear indication of the lockstep, radical attitude towards unrestricted abortion through all nine months of pregnancy that half of our General Assembly members hold.” said Olivia Gans Turner, President of Virginia Society for Human Life.
“In a show of just how extreme they are, the only measure about abortion passed by the Senate this year was a “Right to Abortion Amendment” that would enshrine Roe v Wade in the Virginia constitution. The result of such an amendment would be abortion with no regulations or limits in Virginia.” said Turner.
Virginia Society for Human Life is the oldest state-wide pro-life organization in the nation with chapters throughout the Commonwealth supporting life issues and the Virginia affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee.
6767 Forest Hill Ave., Suite 304 Richmond, VA 23225 Tel: 804.560.8745 www.vshl.org info@vshl.org
