Del. Kathy Byron is making her fifth attempt at passing a bill to require women who get an abortion to have an ultrasound image taken of the fetus to determine its age.
It may have a better chance of becoming law this year.
Byron, R-Campbell County, has been able to get the ultrasound bill approved four times in the House of Delegates, but it has always been defeated in the Senate Education and Health Committee, which was stacked with Democrats who voted against it.
This year, that committee will be dominated by Republicans who have generally supported the ultrasound measure.
The shift in the committee’s balance results from Republicans gaining a 20-20 tie in Senate seats in last fall’s election, and effective control of its committees through the tie-breaking vote of Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling.
Byron’s fetal ultrasound bill goes into much more detail this year than in previous tries.
Her measure, H.B. 462, would require a two-hour wait between the ultrasound’s being taken and the abortion being performed.
Byron also asks that the fetal heartbeat be studied.
The woman would be offered an opportunity to view the image, hear the heartbeat, or sign a paper saying she rejected the offer.
The two-hour wait required in Byron's bill is less stringent than similar legislation proposed by Del. Mark Cole, R-Fredericksburg. Cole's H.B. 261 calls for a 48-hour wait after the ultrasound.
“After several years, I felt I was able to make sure we had language in place that was constitutional,” Byron said Thursday.
“I’ve been working with Senate leaders on the bill, and talked to the governor’s office about it.”
Gov. Bob McDonnell, when he was in the House of Delegates in 2001, got Virginia’s “informed consent” law put on the books, requiring women who get an abortion review its procedures and sign their approval papers 24 hours in advance.
Byron’s ultrasound bill, which has 11 cosponsors including Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge County, would amend the informed-consent legislation that took several attempts by McDonnell before it passed.
Byron said the ultrasound bill would “determine gestational age, so we don’t have botched abortions and abortions that are a result of unexpected ages” when doctors learn a “fetus is a lot further along than expected.”
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