A pair of bills aiming to make it harder to get an abortion in Virginia were turned back by a House committee late Wednesday evening.
The House courts subcommittee meeting opened with two bills, one that would ban almost all abortions, and another that would ban the practice based on race.
“Today we present a bill that could save 10s of thousands of lives this year and millions over the course of a generation,” said Bedford-area Republican Delegate Tim Griffin.
His bill would ban abortions except to save the life of the mother. Delegate Phillip Scott, whose district includes parts of the Fredericksburg area, would ban the use of race when deciding to terminate a pregnancy.
But Democrats on the committee disagreed with both bills. Among critics was Delegate Vivian Watts, who first joined the House of Delegates 1996. She described her daughter-in-law’s struggle to get pregnant and questioned the impact Griffin’s ban would have on in vitro fertilization and other nontraditional pregnancy methods.
“I’ve lived a long life with a lot of pregnancies with a lot of people that I love, and all kinds of ways to become parents, and it's not because you chose to, its’ because everything works properly,” Watts said.
Griffin’s near-total ban was voted down unanimously, with three Republicans joining Democrats. And while those same three Republicans voted in favor of Scott’s bill, it still failed under the Democratic majority.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
