Bob McDonnell, Virginia Governor, Signs Mandatory Ultrasound Bill Into Law

WASHINGTON -- Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell signed a controversial mandatory ultrasound bill into law Wednesday afternoon, making Virginia the seventh state to require women to have an ultrasound procedure before they can legally have an abortion.

A previous version of the bill would have forced women to undergo an invasive, likely painful transvaginal ultrasound procedure if she was too early into the pregnancy for a more typical transabdominal one to detect fetal age. After that bill sparked widespread protests, McDonnell and House Republicans worked together to write a new bill that would allow women to opt out of the more invasive procedure in favor of an external one.

Democrats are still not pleased with the compromise. Critics of the bill say that it's medically unnecessary and constitutes an egregious government overreach into personal medical decisions that women should make with their doctors.

The bill, which some Democrats are comparing to state-sponsored rape, has sparked several protests at Virginia's state Capitol in Richmond.

"We have taken out the state-required rape from the bill, but the way it is now is still an assault because it's an unwanted touching," state Sen. Janet Howell (D) told HuffPost in an interview, "and the woman is being coerced to have that happen in order to exercise her constitutional right to an abortion."

Americans United for Life, an anti-abortion group that wrote a model ultrasound bill on which Virginia Republicans and lawmakers from several other states have based theirs, called Virginia's new law the "gold standard of medical care" on Wednesday.

"Abortion advocates engaged in a vicious campaign of misinformation against a proposal that would require a life-saving ultrasound test before giving women an abortion-inducing drug or an abortion procedure," AUL CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest said in a statement on Wednesday. "We know that women with ectopic pregnancies have died when given life-ending drugs, which makes it particularly egregious that abortion advocates fought to prevent women from having all the medical information they need for informed consent. Ultrasounds are the gold standard of medical care, and women deserve to have such testing."

Comments

[DodgerFan1979]

52 minutes ago ( 3:02 PM)

Forgive my ignorance but does a doctor need to do an ultrasound to ascertain if a pregnancy is ectopic?

[EmboldenedOlden]

01:26 PM on 03/04/2013

Is anyone suing in any of these states?

[the99pct]

09:11 PM on 06/18/2012

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/03/transvaginal-ultrasounds-coming-soon-state-near-you

Despicable!

[Alexander Borschel]

06:26 PM on 04/09/2012

This is the same state where a 15 year old girl poured bleach in her genitals to abort her pregnancy, due to the perceivement over how difficult it is to get an abortion. She didn't report this, hasn't, and I leave that up to her as she is who experienced it.

That being said... I'm just pointing out where I'm coming from when I say bills like this promote that kind of view, where such barbarism is seen as a necessity, rather than a choice. Thank you for encouraging that with this kind of legislature.

Maybe the religious should read a bit of Dante... the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I wonder how many coathangers wont be holding up a coat because of it.

[AllThingsSonya]

08:33 PM on 03/21/2012

This bill amounts to not only cruel and unusual punishment but slavery in that the women is denied control over decisions regarding her own body; that the government is interceding and implying a woman and her doctor are not capable of making a good decision. Also, another reason that politicians should NOT be making medical decisions is that an ultra sound done in the early stages of a pregnancy has been shown to potential to damage the fetus. This is an idiotic bill voted on by a bunch of men who have NO business passing it, but I suspect it is their efforts to accomplish something as they are incompetent to deal with other issues like job development, solving economic issues, making schools solvent, etc. I wonder how much the tax payers paid for all the time wasted on this bill.

[dawnasheville3]

02:36 AM on 03/17/2012

I have to ask how many of you have read the new law ? I am an woman and I have read this law and the rights an woman has when it comes to having an abortion basically this law means to protect the woman if there is something wrong with the fetus or pregnancy or fetus has no heartbeat then no need for an abortion as the abortion fees are 100% refundable if the pregnancy was tubal meaning an ultrasound can be life saver to that woman Really this prevents doctors padding their wallets of the so called fees if the woman is going to have an natural miscarriage there is no need for an abortion, most of you may have not even read the woman's rights law ??
Like I said after reading the new rules that all doctors who are to preform the abortion is to do an ultrasound to check and confirm there is an pregnancy in the womb not in the tube and age of the fetus and heartbeat if no heartbeat other medical care is provided on natural miscarriage the woman has the right to decline to view the ultrasound or hear the heartbeat also the Doctor who is the one to do the abortion is to sign paperwork turn in without the woman's name as its against the law to disclose her name all documents are to be filed within 60 days if the woman decides to go ahead with the abortion

[boomslang]

07:02 AM on 03/17/2012

"Even if the woman opts to "close [her] eyes," as Corbett suggests, the doctor will have to turn the ultrasound image toward her face, give her two signed copies of the printed image, describe the number of heartbeats per minute and tell her if that's normal or not for a fetus of that age. She then has to wait 24 hours and bring all the signed paperwork and both ultrasound images to her abortion doctor in order to have the procedure legally, and the doctor has to repeat to her the age of the fetus." This is not medical care it is vicious humiliation of woman going through a emotionally traumatic event in her life .

[Selene Sweck]

01:54 PM on 03/18/2012

You call it viciously humiliating to face the reality of taking a life? In all cases other than rape, "the emotional traumatic event" you so aptly described was brought on by irresponsible sexual behavior and the real trauma is the baby's life that was snuffed out. Anyone considering abortion should understand the seriousness of their decision regardless of the radicals who want them to believe that it's just a simple medical procedure and another form of recreational birth control.

[Njeanous]

09:17 PM on 03/16/2012

Bob this mandatory bill you want women to have and then pay for, is that BIG GOVERNMENT or MEDIUM GOVERNMENT? Meaning that Federal government is big and your state mandates are medium leaving local level mandates for LITTLE GOVERNMENT. When is your term up? Are you bucking for a recall? Do you know that more women vote than men? Do you know what age we live in? Do you think people are not paying attention to this ludicrous ploy?

[grayswindell]

02:09 PM on 03/12/2012

I, for the life of me, can't figure the left's argument. First of all they want a mandated health care system to cover contraceptives, and taxpayers foot the bill, yet they dont want a mandated ultra sound before an abortion ? The ultra sound before an surgical procedure OH MY GOD!!!! That might save a life , so just so i got this straight , contraceptive mandate GOOD ultra sound mandate BAD?

[MarcDel]

02:20 PM on 03/12/2012

Let's try the Republican inconsistency. They don't want government intrusion in healthcare because they argue it would put government between a doctor and a patient yet they want government deciding rather than a doctor, what constitutes informed consent. Since when do legislators rather than doctors know what a woman needs to consider medically before a procedure? So do you believe in privacy or don't you? Privacy between a doctor and patient or government deciding your privacy? You're talking out of both sides of something and I think you need an ultrasound to see if your head is in one of your orifices

[grayswindell]

02:26 PM on 03/12/2012

I am a Libertarian, Here is my take , How about the Government taking their hands off my wallet and out of your vagina , simple enough?

[peegan]

12:43 PM on 03/14/2012

The ultra sound had no medical purpose in regards to this procedure, none. It will not effect how the doctor treats the patient. You might as well mandate a foot x-ray too.

[grayswindell]

12:50 PM on 03/14/2012

incorrect dweeb , my wife is an ob gyn pa , ultra sounds are frequently ordered in place of xrays and covered by all insurances as a safety procedure

[spunkyphd]

07:25 PM on 03/11/2012

hmmm, I heard Virginina was an easy place to buy a hand gun, that you actually could buy one hand gun a month. So does this mean that every woman can go to her "man"dated untrasound prepared to stop any unwanted "touching"?

This is just one more bill that will be struck down by the federal court as unconstitutional--therefore a waste of a lot of time and money on all parts. If the bill said the woman has a right to an untrasound should she want one and the state will pay for it. Thats different. But thats Not want they are saying, they are forcing the ultrasound on her. She will probably have to find someway to pay for it too.

[Bailey-VA]

04:14 PM on 03/12/2012

FYI - Governor McDonnell repealed the one gun a month bill when he signed HB940 on Feb.28, 2012. The signing came after McDonnell met with families of people killed or injured in the April 2007 shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

Furthermore, the PersonHood bill HB1 was shelved for consideration until 2013 after the state senate voted it down in February because of all the controversy over HB462 (the original Transvaginal Ultra Sound Bill)... and let's not forget his Confederate Month fiasco .. could go on but what's the point ... his intentions for Virginia are very clear through his agenda and recent responses to protesters in Richmond :-(

[zechstress]

04:38 PM on 03/16/2012

"We have taken out the state-required rape from the bill, but the way it is now is still an assault because it's an unwanted touching," state Sen. Janet Howell (D) told HuffPost in an interview, "and the woman is being coerced to have that happen in order to exercise her constitutional right to an abortion."

Replace 'constitutional right to an abortion' with 'constitutional right to travel' and insert 'by TSA agents' to the phrase 'unwanted touching'. Now consider that an ultrasound is similar to a TSA body scan, required for travel or else the unwanted touching comes into play. If this is allowed, why not pre-abortion ultrasounds? Can I shoot the next TSA agent who comes at me?

[JohnBryansFontaine]

06:39 AM on 03/11/2012

GOP Demands Complete Ban on New Ferrari :

The New Ferrari Looks Like A Uterus
( google )

[JohnBryansFontaine]

05:36 AM on 03/11/2012

Maybe the theocratic fascists who support ultrasound get some kind of satisfaction imagining a Taliban state forcing a probe into a women's privates.

Then again, red states are he greatest consumers of porno :

"...Those states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption, the study finds....

"Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very things they claimed to be outraged by..."

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16680-porn-in-the-usa-conservatives-are-biggest-consumers.html

[grayswindell]

02:04 PM on 03/12/2012

Let me get this correct , just asking , so you believe in a mandated birth control health care system because it saves lives and its for women's health, yet you are opposed to a mandated ultra sound BEFORE a surgical procedure because it's a violation of privacy ??? so which is it , do you want women safe before a surgical procedure? You want the government to force a mandate on healthcare yet you dont want them to force a mandate on ultrasound ? ET TU ! talking out of both sides of your mouth now

[peegan]

12:49 PM on 03/14/2012

The ultra sound will do nothing to effect the safety of this procedure. That is just a fact. In fact at this stage of a pregnancy an external ultra sound is completely worthless which is why at first they were talking  an intravaginal ultrasound until they found out what it was. And that is an interesting point too. these legislators are mandating medical procedures that they don't even understand.

[Joshy X]

07:56 PM on 03/10/2012

if they found an alien fetus on Mars, Greenpeace would be screaming to save it

[JohnBryansFontaine]

10:21 PM on 03/10/2012

Or, you can join your fellow right-wing, fascist nazis on the dark side of the moon. ( Iron Sky )

[Joshy X]

11:22 PM on 03/10/2012

glad you like obscure finn movies...and there is nothing closer to a euro-fascist than an american left winger... me thinks you have some issues JB?

[nonethewyzzer]

06:23 AM on 03/10/2012

My 18-year-old daughter overheard me talking about all the legislation that's been passed and/or introduced over the past year or so last night. She wandered into the room and listened for a few minutes, then spoke her mind. (fortunately Rush Limbaugh wasn't around to hear her.)

"Why are a bunch of men, who can NEVER get pregnant, deciding what women can or cannot do with their bodies?"

I didn't have an answer for her.....

[grayswindell]

02:11 PM on 03/12/2012

because sunshine , they were elected by a majority vote like the Constitution says.... or do you not know how the system works?

[nonethewyzzer]

04:50 PM on 03/12/2012

I know how the system works, so do most kids. Dismissive much?

That hardly answers the heart of the question, now does it?

[Educated 8222]

10:09 PM on 03/09/2012

The women at least know that McDonnell has just signed the law allowing people to buy more than one hand gun a month. This will let them hold two guns when McDonnell tries to hold them down for the vaginal probe. The reputation Virginia has as the easiest place to buy a gun has been enhanced again.

[grayswindell]

02:13 PM on 03/12/2012

WOW i wish we didnt have the gov gun to our head when we are forced to pay for health care

[JohnBryansFontaine]

08:10 PM on 03/09/2012

Meet the Group Behind All Those Crappy Ultrasound Laws
by Erin Gloria Ryan

http://jezebel.com/5891386/meet-the-group-behind-all-those-crappy-ultrasound-laws

[askandtell]

09:45 PM on 03/09/2012

Excellent link as always John.

[JohnBryansFontaine]

10:08 PM on 03/09/2012

Thank you, askandtell

[Joshy X]

07:57 PM on 03/10/2012

ultrasound = camera = truth... the Left never can win when truth counters their verbal euphemisms

[JohnBryansFontaine]

09:13 PM on 03/10/2012

Ultrasound = right-wng government invasion of women's privacy = ant- abortion agenda of right-wing fascists Hitler, Mussolini and Franco

the Right never can win when actual Truth counters their verbal euphemisms