Virginia House vote states life starts at conception

[Dana]

RICHMOND — The Virginia House of Delegates approved legislation Tuesday that would define life as beginning at conception, setting up a potential clash in the state Senate and another high-stakes battle over a measure that has been beaten back elsewhere in the country in recent years.


Lawmakers tackled several contentious social issues on Tuesday, in addition to passing perhaps the most high-profile bill thus far this session. Delegate Robert G. Marshall’s “personhood” measure easily cleared the House on a 66-32 vote.


Mr. Marshall, Prince William Republican, said opponents have long searched for a “bogeyman in the closet on this legislation.”

“They have failed,” he said.

Opponents say that the bill moves a step closer to outlawing abortion outright, should the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision be overturned and that it would make some forms of birth control illegal.


Delegate Vivian E. Watts, Fairfax Democrat, proposed an amendment Monday to ensure that contraception would remain legal, but it was rejected.

Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, said the bill has potentially far-reaching consequences.

“With the word ‘person’ appearing more than 25,000 times in the Virginia code, single-minded legislators are about to run this commonwealth off a cliff as well as eradicating women’s health and rights,” she said.


The bill now heads to the Senate, where it likely will be sent to the Education and Health Committee. That committee last year killed the same bill, when Democrats enjoyed a 10-5 advantage. Republicans now hold an 8-7 edge there, and all eyes will be on Sen. Harry B. Blevins, Virginia Beach Republican, who sometimes bucks his party on abortion issues.


Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican and a Catholic, said Tuesday that he believes life begins at conception but that he had not looked at the bill in detail.


“Anytime you get into these areas, there are legal and constitutional issues,” he told WNIS Radio in Norfolk. “If the bill passes, we’ll have a full review done by the attorney general’s office to see whether or not it’s appropriate. But … obviously my personal views versus what the proper legal and constitutional views are is something we need to sort out to make sure we’re enacting good law.”


Mississippi voters rejected a “personhood” ballot initiative last fall, and Colorado voters did the same in 2008 and 2010.


The debate over the measure erupted soon after the White House backed off a mandate that employers, including religious institutions, cover birth control and other reproductive items in their health care plans amid outcry from religious leaders across the country.


Reproductive rights have been a particularly hot-button issue in Virginia this year, after Republicans won an effective majority of the state Senate in November to control the governor’s mansion and both chambers of the General Assembly.


The House of Delegates on Tuesday also approved a mandate that women undergo invasive ultrasound imaging before having an abortion, advancing another major item on the Republicans’ pro-life agenda. The Senate has passed its own version of the bill after quashing it last year.

Story Continues →

Remind me to never move to Virginia.

 

[brieze]

Idiots.

 

[Panacea]

Remind me to never move to Virginia.

You'd need reminding?

Idiots.

:shesaid

 

[porterjack]

"obviously my personal views versus what the proper legal and constitutional views are is something we need to sort out to make sure we’re enacting good law.”

said the governor

how much they pay this guy?

 

[All Else Failed]

Hey, representative democracy at work. You guys should be happy your beloved system is working. THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.

 

[Joe the meek]

THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.

And luckily we have safeguards in place.

 

[Zorak]

My mum had a mug that said life starts at 40...

SOmebody is lying....

 

[porterjack]

My mum had a mug that said life starts at 40...

SOmebody is lying....

your Mom has been lying to you for years

Son

 

[brieze]

I don't get how these kind of laws or whatever come to be. From my experience, the majority of people seem to be against it. Not just people on forums either. Like prop 8. I don't think I met a single person who supported that. Yet it was an issue.

 

[Dana]

I don't get how these kind of laws or whatever come to be. From my experience, the majority of people seem to be against it. Not just people on forums either. Like prop 8. I don't think I met a single person who supported that. Yet it was an issue.

Because it's a fixed system.

 

[Accountable]

Life does begin at conception. It's a scientific fact. Pick & choose when to follow science or emotion if you must, but fact is fact.

 

[All Else Failed]

What defines "life" though?

 

[Accountable]

What defines "life" though?

This guy seems competent. Then again, he may be a homeless guy with a good voice that needed 5 bucks.

[video=youtube;yWs4Wb0bzP0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWs4Wb0bzP0[/video]

 

[The Man]

Life starts at conception.
Abortion is to end that life.
An act is taken to prevent the child from growing inside.

A murder of a pregnant woman is double murder...thus taking two lives.
So by law it is already considered a life.
If a woman doesnt want the baby....then its not a life?
But if she does then it is?

Life isnt determined by whether one wants to keep a baby...sorry
Its determined by the simple fact that it is a life.

 

[Minor Axis]

Life does begin at conception. It's a scientific fact. Pick & choose when to follow science or emotion if you must, but fact is fact.

It's not that there is life. It's what "they" want to do about it. Fetuses have traditionally not had rights until they were born or were viable outside the womb, viable on their own. Protecting early cell formation is over the line imo.

After all, how doe we know it's not sperm that carries the soul? Just think of all the wasted souls. :tooth Of course, if you go with the premise of a soul there is no overriding reason to believe it is locked into one body. I'd say a better premise is at at some point the soul attaches and if for some reason the human body does not make it, the soul gets a second chance and could be recycled multiple times...

 

[Accountable]

LOL at the wasted souls line.

But we can't arbitrarily bring religion into it when we like to then cry separation of church & state when we don't. The placement, timing, or even existence of a soul is not relevant here.

 

[The Man]

Abortion explained

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g46hlT_2804

 

[Minor Axis]

LOL at the wasted souls line.

But we can't arbitrarily bring religion into it when we like to then cry separation of church & state when we don't. The placement, timing, or even existence of a soul is not relevant here.

Again, everyone knows that life starts at conception. They've known this forever. The issue is what is to be done about it. And again, early cell formation has never had rights. What disturbs me the most is that the Republicans continually rant about getting government out of our lives while simultaneously pushing their version of social engineering- trying to outlaw all abortions *AND* restricting contrception, they are attempting to project their religious views on everyone else. They are a bunch of hypocrites.

Abortion explained

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g46hlT_2804

Are you being disingenuous? Partial birth abortion is a tiny subset of abortions and my understanding is only carried out when the mother's life is in danger.

 

[Accountable]

Again, everyone knows that life starts at conception. They've known this forever.

I agree, but most libs won't.

The issue is what is to be done about it. And again, early cell formation has never had rights. What disturbs me the most is that the Republicans continually rant about getting government out of our lives while simultaneously pushing their version of social engineering- trying to outlaw all abortions *AND* restricting contrception, they are attempting to project their religious views on everyone else. They are a bunch of hypocrites.

Again, I agree. I can't resist pointing out, though, that you were the one who tried to inject souls into the discussion.

 

[Panacea]

Again, everyone knows that life starts at conception. They've known this forever.

I definitely don't think everyone agrees with this.