by Madison Hirneisen
A panel of Virginia Senate lawmakers voted down Republican-backed bills seeking to enact bans on abortion in the commonwealth Thursday, including a 15-week ban backed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
The Senate Education and Health Committee voted to defeat a bill making it unlawful for physicians to perform an abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy unless the life of the mother is at risk, or the pregnancy is as a result of rape or incest.
The committee also voted down a bill banning abortion unless the life of the mother is at risk, or if the gestational age of the unborn child is 20 weeks or less, and the cause of pregnancy is rape or incest with an “official police report” filed.
Another bill defeated by the committee would have limited abortions to the second trimester and sought to abolish lawful abortion during the third trimester, unless the life of the mother is at risk. Under existing Virginia law, the state allows abortion through the second trimester, and only allows third trimester abortions when three physicians agree a continuation of the pregnancy is likely to result in the death of the pregnant individual or “substantially and irremediably” harm their mental health.
Republican lawmakers and Youngkin voiced support for restrictions on abortions after 15-weeks with certain exceptions, contending the bill would cut off abortion at the point “when a baby can feel pain.” According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “science conclusively establishes that a human fetus does not have the capacity to experience pain until after at least 24–25 weeks.”
Democrats in the General Assembly have vowed repeatedly to block attempts to restrict abortion in the commonwealth. A win in a special election earlier this month flipped a Virginia Beach state Senate seat, bolstering the Democratic majority in the Senate.
“Despite Gov. Youngkin and his allies’ relentless efforts to undermine our health and rights, today we reaffirmed that there is no place for abortion bans in Virginia,” Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Virginia, said in a statement. “All three of the dangerous anti-abortion proposals before this committee represented grave threats to Virginians’ health and rights, and we are thrilled to now celebrate their defeat.”
Senator Stephen Newman, R-Bedford, the chief patron for the 15-week abortion ban bill on the Senate side, told The Center Square after Thursday’s committee he was “obviously disappointed” the bill was defeated.
“We were hoping that a pain-capable bill would be a compromise bill that would get through,” Newman said.
Several bills addressing abortion have been filed in the Virginia House of Delegates, including an identical 15-week abortion ban bill and another that would prohibit the use of public funds for abortion. The bills, however, have not been docketed for a committee hearing.
Democratic lawmakers have also proposed a constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution, though it would need bipartisan support to pass the General Assembly.
Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert told reporters earlier this month that, given the composition of the politically-divided General Assembly, he doesn’t expect “much of anything” relating to abortion policy getting passed this session.
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Madison Hirneisen is a staff reporter covering Virginia and West Virginia for The Center Square. Madison previously covered California for The Center Square out of Los Angeles, but recently relocated to the DC area. Her reporting has appeared in several community newspapers and The Washington Times.
Photo “Glenn Youngkin” by Glenn Youngkin. Background Photo “Pregnant Woman” by xusenru.
