BREAKING UPDATE (3:20 p.m.) - McDonnell has called for amendments to the bill removing the transvaginal requirement.
"Mandating an invasive procedure in order to give informed consent is not a proper role for the state," McDonnell wrote in a press release. "No person should be directed to undergo an invasive procedure by the state, without their consent, as a precondition to another medical procedure."
These proposed amendments kick the bill back to the Virginia legislature, which had already passed it in its original form. There's no guarantee the bill in its revised form will pass again--once a bill is loosed into the legislature, anything might happen, including legislators deciding that the controversy is too much to warrant another vote in favor, or the legislature simply running out of time to consider it.
Bottom line: this is an unequivocal victory for the bill's opponents, furthering a recent, little-precedented string of victories for women's health advocates over social conservatives.
Original Post: Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell changed course on a
controversial abortion bill Tuesday morning, indicating he may not sign
legislation requiring women to have an ultrasound before obtaining an abortion.
The bill
passed last week and was almost overshadowed by the already raging
contraception debate. While the bill is not the first in the nation to make an
ultrasound requirement an obstacle to abortion (hullo, Texas),
Virginia’s version has extreme provisions.
As a majority abortions occur within the first twelve weeks
of pregnancy, many of the ultrasounds under Virginia’s legislation would
require a transvaginal probe, a considerably more intense procedure than a
normal exterior ultrasound, and one that serves no medically necessary purpose
with regards to abortion. Dahlia
Lithwick pointed out at Slate
that since the legislature didn’t allow for the woman’s consent to the
transvaginal procedure, the bill could end up requiring doctors to violate the
federal definition of rape.
That last part appears to be what’s caught McDonnell. The
Governor’s office has not said what has caused him to switch from adamant
support of the bill to his current cagey language that he will “review it” when
it arrives on his desk, but according
to one official, “Many of the bill’s supporters were apparently unaware of
how invasive the procedure could be.” (Good thing they didn’t check before, you
know, passing the bill.)
The about-face has the right in apoplexy, as the bill has
passed through both chambers and needs only the Governor’s signature to become
law, causing Red
State to characterize McDonnell’s move as “snatching defeat from the jaws
of victory.” The RS blogger notes that McDonnell is at the end of his term
limits, and so has no electoral reason to fear signing the legislation.
Their conclusion: McDonnell is angling hard for a VP spot on
a Romney ticket, and as Romney fears ever defending any fixed stance on
abortion ever, McDonnell is hedging his bets. “In fact, McDonnell’s actions are
really a great metaphor for Mitt Romney’s political career,” Red State wrote.
In related news, Virginia is still working on a bill to
define life as beginning at the moment of conception, which would effectively
criminalize contraception. This weird
little exchange is making more sense by the day.
---
Want
to connect with other PoliticOlogists? Continue the conversation on My Ology
Follow Evan McMurry @evanmcmurry
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment!