After days of unrelenting criticism, the House of Delegates today passed a weakened version of the ultrasound mandate after consultation with Gov. Bob McDonnell, amending it so that women could reject a procedure if it must be done vaginally
The bill would still require that all women having an abortion undergo an ultrasound to determine the gestational age, but women subject to a transvaginal procedure would be able to decline.
Oftentimes, the procedure must be performed that way, versus on the abdomen, early in a pregnancy.
Because the House made changes to a Senate measure — Senate Bill 484, sponsored by Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Fauquier — it must go back before the Senate with the changes.
But this afternoon, Vogel indicated she will try to strike her bill.
Apparently Del. Vogel felt the altered bill made things even worse. This was abviously a bill that should have never been. Make no mistake, it wasn’t about informed consent. It was about guilting women not to have an abortion. The hope was that if the woman seeking an aborton saw the ultrasound, she would change her mind.
