Several other noteworthy bills were introduced but not passed by the General Assembly:

• Delegate Kathy Byron (R-Lynchburg) introduced HB 1741 to expand the current conscience clause to permit “any physician, pharmacist, or other medical or health care professional” to exercise “conscientious refusal in dispensing or administering any medication prescribed for the purpose of performing or causing an abortion.” The conscience clause in the current law applies to hospitals, other medical facilities, physicians and other persons objecting in writing, but only regarding “performing” or participating in “procedures that will result in” an abortion.

  Thus, for example, HB 1741 could have applied to dispensing or administering an abortifacient drug such as RU-486. The bill passed the House of Delegates by a strong 69-29 margin but was killed in the Senate Education and Health committee on a 9-5-1 vote.

• Delegate Mark Cole (R-Fredericksburg) introduced HB 1580 to remove mental health as a condition that would allow a woman to have a third trimester abortion. The bill passed the House of Delegates on a vote of 71-28 but failed in the Senate Education and Health committee by a single vote margin.

• Delegate Robert Bell (R-Charlottesville) introduced HB 2692 to punish injury to or death of a child in utero. This is similar to the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2001 (but was never voted on in the Senate). The bill was tabled in the House Courts of Justice committee on a unanimous vote.

• Delegate Bob Marshall (R-Manassas) introduced HB 2366 to prohibit “destructive research” on a human embryo. That is, any medical procedures or research that would kill or injure the embryo would be outlawed. The bill was tabled in the House Health, Welfare and Institutions committee on a unanimous vote.

Published in VSHL Lifesaver, April 2003