Abortion; optional ultrasound. (SB1332)

Introduced By

Sen. Ralph Northam (D-Norfolk) with support from co-patron Sen. Barbara Favola (D-Arlington)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Abortion; optional ultrasound. Eliminates the requirement that a pregnant woman undergo a mandatory transabdominal ultrasound prior to the performance of an abortion to determine the gestational age of the fetus and provides that a pregnant woman shall be offered the opportunity to have an ultrasound performed. Read the Bill »

Status

01/28/2013: Failed to Pass in Committee

History

DateAction
01/18/2013Presented and ordered printed 13102232D
01/18/2013Referred to Committee on Education and Health
01/28/2013Passed by indefinitely in Education and Health (8-Y 3-N) (see vote tally)

Comments

ACLU-VA Women's Rights and Reproductive Freedom, tracking this bill in Photosynthesis, notes:

The ACLU of Virginia supports this bill because it seeks to repeal the law passed in 2012 requiring that a woman undergo a transabdominal ultrasound prior to an abortion. Health care decisions are best made by individuals and their medical providers, not politicians. Patients should not be forced to undergo any procedure against their will or better judgment. Mandatory ultrasound puts
government into the examination room and lets politics come between a woman and her physician; curtails a woman’s constitutional rights to privacy and liberty by subjecting her to possibly unwanted and unnecessary medical procedures; place undue burdens on women seeking legal and safe abortion care; and is simply a delay tactic that imposes additional costs and prolongs a woman’s access to her abortion.