House passes weaker version of ultrasound bill

UPDATE:

The House of Delegates approved an abortion ultrasound bill today after stripping away language that could have required women to undergo a transvaginal examination.

Instead, an amendment proposed by Gov. Bob McDonnell would require a more common, external ultrasound procedure. The House passed the amended bill on a 65-32, party-line vote.

Democrats in the House said the revised bill still goes too far, too fast, and the state should not require any ultrasound test at all.

McDonnell told lawmakers "There is no need to direct by statute that further invasive ultrasound procedures be done" during abortion procedures.

Del. Kathy Byron, R-Campbell County, was among the legislation's sponsors. Byron has said requiring an ultrasound is intended to make abortions safer by determining gestational age of a fetus.

The governor proposed several amendments, the primary one saying the ultrasound procedure should be transabdominal, or the "jelly-on-the-belly" procedure as described by an ultrasound opponent.

If that procedure does not reveal the gestational age of the fetus, any decision about proceeding with an internal, or transvaginal, ultrasound would be left to the woman and her doctor.

"Mandating an invasive procedure in order to give informed consent is not a proper role for the state. No person should be directed to undergo an invasive procedure by the state, without their consent, as a precondition to another medical procedure," McDonnell said in the statement.

"I am requesting that the General Assembly amend this bill to explicitly state that no woman in Virginia will have to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound involuntarily. I am asking the General Assembly to state in this legislation that only a transabdominal, or external, ultrasound will be required to satisfy the requirements to determine gestational age."

Opponents of the bill argued the ultrasound requirement would hinder access to abortion, and offering women a view of the ultrasound image is intended to discourage abortions.

2:49 p.m.

Gov. Bob McDonnell said this afternoon Virginia lawmakers should not require a woman considering an abortion to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound.

"There is no need to direct by statute that further invasive ultrasound procedures be done" during abortion procedures, the governor said in a statement released this afternoon.

Del. Kathy Byron, R-Campbell County, was among the legislation's sponsors. Byron has said requiring an ultrasound is intended to make abortions safer by determining gestational age of a fetus.

The governor said he will propose several amendments to a bill that would have required an internal ultrasound procedure in many cases for women seeking abortions.

Instead, McDonnell proposes that the decision concerning the internal procedure, known as a transvaginal ultrasound, be left to a woman and her doctor.

"Mandating an invasive procedure in order to give informed consent is not a proper role for the state. No person should be directed to undergo an invasive procedure by the state, without their consent, as a precondition to another medical procedure," McDonnell said in the statement.

"I am requesting that the General Assembly amend this bill to explicitly state that no woman in Virginia will have to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound involuntarily," McDonnell said in the statement. "I am asking the General Assembly to state in this legislation that only a transabdominal, or external, ultrasound will be required to satisfy the requirements to determine gestational age."

Opponents of the bill argued the ultrasound requirement would hinder access to abortion, and offering women a view of the ultrasound image is intended to discourage abortions.