It was the first time ever that such legislation has even reached the Senate floor, despite numerous bills passed by the House. Each year, including earlier this session, the Senate kills the legislation in committee. But all 18 Republicans held together and two brave pro-life Democrats, Senators Phil Puckett (D-38, Tazewell) and Chuck Colgan (D-29, Manassas), resisted pressure from their caucus’ leadership.

While the session has gone according to script this year, with the House passing and the Senate Education and Health Committee killing pro-life legislation, a dramatic turn occurred only a few days ago, in last days of session. SB 924, patroned by Senator Ryan McDougle (R-4, Hanover), which directs the Board of Health to promulgate regulations for certain health care facilities, passed the Senate and went to the House of Delegates. Delegate Kathy Byron (R-22, Lynchburg) offered an amendment to add abortion centers. Liberals challenged its germaneness, but after consulting with his parliamentarian, House Speaker Bill Howell (R-28, Stafford) ruled it in order and the House passed it overwhelmingly. That change required it to return to the Senate where the GOP caucus began to coalesce around the amendment. The vote was scheduled yesterday, but after a half-hour of debate it was passed by until today. Senate Democrat leaders pressured its two wayward colleagues, but at the outset of the tenor of today’s 90-minute debate it was apparent there were no cracks in the coalition.

Unfortunately, opponents devoid of logic but full of less-than-genuine arguments, demagogued the issue. At one point Senator Janet Howell (D-32, Fairfax) mocked Senator Mark Obenshain’s (R-26, Harrisonburg) recitation of federal court decisions upholding abortion center regulations, even though he was replying to her colleagues’ calls for proof of legal precedent. It prompted this exchange. Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-35, Springfield) told his colleagues to “get a life!” if they thought the bill was about women’s safety, ignoring his own colleagues’ faux concerns for the constitution.

Senator John Edwards (D-21, Roanoke) repeatedly claimed the bill was unconstitutional with wild assertions and vague stretches of case law, all of which were refuted by Senator Obenshain, who cited federal appeals and U.S. Supreme Court decisions. One was Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which Senator Edwards said ruled such regulations illegal. Senator Obenshain replied that “standing up and saying so doesn’t make it so,” and read from the court’s opinion which plainly disproved Senator Edwards’ assertions.

Several liberal senators predicted horrors such as back alley abortions even though states such as South Carolina regulate abortion centers with no such reports and Virginia regulated abortion centers until 1983. They also claimed first-trimester abortions were among the “safest procedures” despite absolutely no corroborating evidence because there are no reporting requirements mandated in Virginia. Senator Dave Marsden (D-37, Fairfax) even compared the bill to the poll tax and efforts to keep minorities from voting in the Jim Crow era.

Another desperate aspect of the debate was the demand by several liberal Democrats that Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issue an opinion, perhaps the first time they’ve wanted his advice. Of course, it was a tactic to delay and kill the bill. Senator Edwards sarcastically said the attorney general would love to defend the bill if it became law because of the other legal actions he’s pursued. But the fact was, and they knew it, he issued an opinion in August in support of the constitutionality of such regulations. He even accommodated senators with a letter composed during a Senate recess — which added to the longevity of the debate.

Opponents’ arguments, so twisted, inevitably contradicted each other, with Senator Howell’s unwitting admission that abortion is, in fact, used for contraception when she said the bill would take away one method of “determining the size of families.”

This was a monumental vote and a historic day. The forces of life, after years of pursuit, finally won an incremental and commonsense victory. Thank you to all who contacted their senators on this important issue! We now look forward to working within the regulatory process to ensure the regulations by the Board of Health ensure abortion centers are safe for women who make the unfortunate choice of abortion.

The Virginia Senate, after some debate today, put off until tomorrow a vote on the pro-life House amendment to SB 924. The bill, patroned by Senator Ryan McDougle (R-4, Mechanicsville), directs the Board of Health to create regulations regarding hospitals, nursing homes, and certified nursing facilities. However, Delegate Kathy Byron’s (R-22, Lynchburg) floor amendment (read here) Monday tacked on abortion centers to the types of facilities to come under these regulations. Once the House of Delegates approved the amendment and then the bill, it moved back to the Senate which will have to approve or reject the amendment and the bill.

In effect, the new version of bill requires the Board of Health to create abortion center safety regulations — an initiative The Family Foundation has pushed for more than a decade. But pro-abortion lawmakers successfully negotiated a one-day delay in the vote, presumably to pressure two pro-life Democrats. The Washington Post’s Virginia Politics blog reported today that Democrat Senators Chuck Colgan (D-29, Manassas) and Phil Puckett (D-38, Tazewell) have committed to support the amendment. We’re hopeful one more may come around as well. If the 18 Republican senators vote as a block, the addition of Senators Colgan and Puckett would result in a 20-20 tie, in which case Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling would cast the deciding vote. A pro-life advocate during his time in the legislature, Lieutenant Governor Bolling is likely to support the amendment.

During today’s debate, opponents inaccurately portrayed the bill as forcing abortion centers to become hospitals with identical regulations. In fact, the bill as amended simply states that abortion centers are a type of hospital and that the Board of Health would have to promulgate regulations for this new classification of hospital, just as there are regulations for ambulatory surgery centers.
 
It is likely that tomorrow pro-abortion legislators will pull out every procedural move in the book in an attempt to derail this monumental win for the pro-life movement. Simply put, any attempt to monkey with the process (for example, attempting re-refer to committee or declaring the amendment not germane) will be seen as a deliberate attempt to prevent passage of the amendment and in effect the same as a vote against the amendment. After years of waiting for this day, pro-life advocates deserve an up or down vote on abortion center safety on the Senate floor.

Pressure and parliamentary tricks. That’s what the pro-abortion movement has come down to. Will it be enough to overcome what is right and the will of the people?
 
Thank you to those who have already contacted their Senators to support  this critical amendment. For those of you who have not yet done so, we urge you to do so immediately and affect this historic and monumental opportunity. 

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Please click here to contact your Senator and urge him or her to vote no on SB 747! 

According to the Washington Post on October 30, 2009:

. . . state government, in which a 110,000-strong workforce undoubtedly includes thousands of homosexuals. …

If testimony were to be taken at face value, one would believe that our state government operates under a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, where each of those thousands of employees would be fired when their orientation is discovered. However, no such policy exists and the facts confirm this. 

According to the Department of Human Resource Management, which tracks allegations of discrimination, from 1992 forward there have been 24 registered complaints based on sexual orientation. Among these 24 complaints in an 18-year period, not all complaints can be assumed to be founded. From July 1, 2009-March 9, 2010 three complaints of sexual orientation discrimination were filed, but as the March date, none were deemed “founded.” Should this bill be successful, it would be the first time in Virginia history that sexual orientation would be elevated to a protected class in the law. 
 
Thankfully, the committee did have the sense to defeat an even more comprehensive bill on sexual orientation non-discrimination. The bill, SB 797, would have added sexual orientation to Virginia’s Human Rights Act, and in doing so, would potentially force faith-based organizations, religious daycare centers and schools to hire homosexuals against their conscience. While proponents claimed this would simply be a policy statement by the Commonwealth, everyone knows policy statements turn into judicial decisions, administrative regulations, and lead to future more detailed laws. The bill failed on a 7-7 vote, with Senator Chuck Colgan (D-29, Manassas) not voting.

YEAS — Colgan, Cuccinelli, Hanger, Hurt, Martin, McDougle, Newman, Norment, Obenshain, Puckett, Quayle, Ruff, Smith, Stolle, Stosch, Stuart, Vogel, Wagner, Wampler, Watkins (20).

NAYS — Barker, Deeds, Edwards, Herring, Houck, Howell, Locke, Lucas, Marsh, McEachin, Miller, J.C., Miller, Y.B., Northam, Petersen, Puller, Reynolds, Saslaw, Ticer, Whipple (19).

NOT VOTING — Blevins (1).

That’s 18 of the 19 Republicans in the affirmative, with Senator Harry Blevins (R-14, Chesapeake), abstaining as is his want (he, apparently is not a fan of specialized plates and does not vote on any such legislation, just as he abstained in committee). Two Democrats, Senators Chuck Colgan (D-29, Manassas) and Phillip Puckett (D-38, Tazewell), joined the 18, while the remaining 18 Dems voted en bloc against. This is a perfect illustration of exactly how difficult it is to get even modest, middle ground life legislation through the House of Lords, err, Senate.

Interestingly, here is the vote on the bill itself, in its amended form (and where Senator John Watkins (R-10 Midlothian) earned the Trifecta Award for voting every which way possible: abstained in commitee, yes on the amendment — for which we are grateful — and no on the bill):

YEAS —Barker, Colgan, Cuccinelli, Deeds, Edwards, Hanger, Herring, Houck, Hurt, Lucas, Marsh, Martin, McDougle, Miller, J.C., Miller, Y.B., Newman, Norment, Northam, Obenshain, Petersen, Puckett, Quayle, Reynolds, Ruff, Smith, Stolle, Stosch, Stuart, Ticer, Vogel, Wagner, Wampler, Whipple (33).

NAYS —Howell, Locke, McEachin, Puller, Watkins (5).

NOT VOTING —Blevins, Saslaw (2).

This is where we get a sense of the true extreme, abortion-at-all-costs senators: Saslaw, Howell, Locke, McEachin and Puller. Not a vote between them for the amendment, nor the bill — which included a number of special plates designed to encourage tourism in different localities. They’d rather vote against the localities that would benefit than help avert abortions. For this gang of five, anything to do with life, even such a minuscule nod to helping crisis pregnancy centers, is an abomination. 

Questions for these senators: Do you agree abortion is a problem? If yes, then do you or do you not agree pregnancy resource centers contribute to solving the problem? If not, why not?