Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell on Wednesday angered both sides of a contentious abortion debate by forcing lawmakers to significantly alter a bill that would require a woman to undergo an ultrasound before getting an abortion.
McDonnell, who previously said he’d sign the measure if it reached his desk, sent amendments to lawmakers that altered the measure so drastically that the bill’s sponsor threatened to kill the bill altogether. Opponents said the changes made the bill worse.
McDonnell issued a statement reiterating his pro-life credentials, but distanced himself from the measure after it gained national media attention and was ridiculed by late-night comics. It also outraged women’s groups, who turned out hundreds of protesters at the Capitol. Even some anti-abortion activists denounced the measure as overly intrusive because it would require women in the earliest stages of pregnancy to undergo an internal transvaginal ultrasound.
Women’s groups noted that the transvaginal procedure requires doctors to insert a medical device into a woman’s vagina against her will, which falls within the FBI’s definition of rape.
McDonnell met behind closed doors with several lawmakers to hammer out a compromise that would instead require all women to receive the “jelly on the belly” abdominal ultrasound before being allowed to get an abortion, even though doctors say that procedure is of little use in the early stages of a pregnancy, when most abortions are performed. McDonnell’s amendment would allow the woman to request a transvaginal ultrasound.
“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 a statement.
The House approved McDonnell’s changes on a 65-32 vote late Wednesday. The measure now goes to the Senate, where the bill’s chief patron, Sen. Jill Vogel, R-Winchester, told colleagues that she intended to strike the bill, effectively killing it, when it arrives.
Democrats in the House remained unappeased by McDonnell’s amendment, insisting the measure now would subject women to a pointless procedure to keep them from having an abortion.
“What you have done is mandated an ultrasound that will be utterly useless,” said Del. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond.
