UPDATE 1/30/19: Virginia’s Repeal Act will not move forward. Live Action News reached out to Rep. C. Todd Gilbert’s office who said the bill will not leave the subcommittee and no action will be taken on it. The Washington Free Beacon said the Repeal Act “when put to a vote… was defeated” and The Daily Progress reports that it was killed. The Washington Times and other sources are reporting that the bill has been tabled or suspended. Nearly half of the Democratic caucus supported it, despite the fact that it allowed for the abortion of viable babies even if the mother was in active labor.
1/29/19: Virginia Rep. Kathy Tran has introduced a bill — HB 2491 — that would allow for abortion up until birth in cases in which the health or life of the mother is at risk. The Repeal Act would remove all existing abortion restrictions in the state of Virginia, and as Tran has admitted, that includes allowing abortion even when a woman is in active labor about to deliver her child.
During a hearing, Virginia House majority leader Todd Gilbert pressed Tran on the facts of the bill while she tried to uncomfortably tiptoe around the truth:
Gilbert: So how late in the third trimester could a physician perform an abortion if he indicated it would impair the mental health of the woman?
Train: Or physical health.
Gilbert: Okay. I’m talking about mental health.
Tran: I mean, through the third trimester. The third trimester goes all the way up to 40 weeks.
Gilbert: So to the end of the third trimester?
Tran: Yes. I don’t think we have a limit in the bill.
Gilbert: So where it’s obvious that a woman is about to give birth, she has physical signs that she’s about to give birth, would that still be a point at which she could still request an abortion if she was so certified? She’s dilating?
Tran: Mr. Chairman, you know, that would be a decision that the doctor, the physician, and the woman would make.
Gilbert: I understand that. I’m asking if your bill allows that.
Tran: My bill would allow that, yes.
It’s obvious from the video that Tran is uneasy admitting that the bill would allow a woman to request an abortion while she is in active labor with a viable baby. Perhaps that’s because she knows as well as anyone else how absolutely horrific and inhumane — and utterly and wholly unnecessary — that would be.
READ: If you’re against New York’s abortion law, then you’re against Roe v. Wade
D.J. Jordan, candidate for the Virginia State House of Delegates, responded by calling the bill “inhumane, barbaric, & unjust.”
OMG. No matter if you call yourself pro-life or pro-choice, this is inhumane, barbaric, & unjust. Such an assault on humanity cannot happen in my state! https://t.co/RkiM01i0mv
— D.J. Jordan (@DJJordanVA) January 29, 2019
A summary for the bill notes, “The bill eliminates the requirement that two other physicians certify that a third trimester abortion is necessary to prevent the woman’s death or impairment of her mental or physical health, as well as the need to find that any such impairment to the woman’s health would be substantial and irremediable.”
The Repeal Act would not only allow for abortion until birth for any reason (just like New York), but it would also do away with informed consent measures and abortion facility safety requirements, allow dangerous late-term abortions to be committed in outpatient facilities, and would remove ultrasound requirements and Virginia’s 24-hour waiting period for abortions.
Editor’s Note 1/30/19: There seems to be disagreement among sources as to whether the bill has been killed or temporarily tabled.
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