Not dead yet

A bill that would enforce licensure and regulation requirements on abortion facilities appears to have stagnated in the Senate Education and Health Committee, but one Virginia pro-life activist believes the issue is still alive.

The bill, sponsored by Del. Richard Bell (R-Dist. 20), cleared the House but is expected to fail in the Democratically-controlled Senate. The Education and Health Committee, which has a 10-5 Democratic majority, has been a perennial burial ground for pro-life legislation.

"It will be surprising if we can get the bill out of committee," said Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation of Virginia, a group that has been lobbying for the measure. "It's a very stacked environment."

The committee voted down three other pro-life measures last week that would require a woman to view an ultrasound of her fetus before undergoing abortion, make it a misdemeanor to force a pregnant woman to abort, and constitutionally guarantee rights to unborn children.

The bill that currently lies dormant in the Education and Health Committee would re-classify first trimester abortion providers as ambulatory surgery centers and thereby require them to undergo appropriate licensure and regulation. According to FindLaw.com, Virginia currently has no legal restrictions on first trimester abortions, except that they be performed by a licensed physician.

In a statement released on its website, NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia said the proposed regulations could force 17 of Virginia's 21 abortion centers to shut their doors.

Cobb disagreed. "I think most clinics might not pass their first inspection. Planned Parenthood is a profitable organization, and if clinics close it would be a political statement, not because they don't have the funds to comply with these requirements."

In South Carolina, similar regulations were upheld by federal courts in 2003. Since the regulations went into effect, statistics from the Guttmacher Institute showed that the number of abortion providers decreased in the state from 10 in 2000 to six in 2008.

In August, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued a legal opinion stating that the Board of Health could require abortion facilities to meet higher health standards. Del. Robert Marshall (R-Dist. 13) spoke at a rally in January intended to pressure Gov. McDonnell to direct the Board of Health to toughen regulations. However, the Washington Post reported that both Cuccinelli and the Family Foundation declined to participate in the rally and backed off from pressuring the governor.

With the stagnation of the measure in the General Assembly, pro-life groups are going back to the drawing board.

"There are other strategies we are working on that I can't disclose at this point," Cobb said. "We are optimistic that during this governor's term, we will have clinic safety regulations one way or another."