Lt. Governor Bill Bolling cast a tie-breaking vote in the State Senate to send a abortion regulation bill to Governor McDonnell, who says he will sign it.
So what does the bill do? Virginia already required that any facility that performed later-term abortion be regulated as a hospital, one of 25 states to do so. However, what Virginia is now doing is requiring that any clinic that provides 5 or more first trimester abortions be regulated as a hospital. Pro-choice activists believe this will shut down 17 of the 21 abortion providers in the state. Virginia is the first state to force such a requirement on first trimester abortions, though it seems unlikely that it will be the last.
Of course, the GOP is doing this under the guise of protecting women's health by "adding a level of regulation and accountability to clinics." However, as Senate Democrats note, the state doesn't apply those standards to potentially more invasive procedures such as colonoscopies, lasik eye surgeries, and some plastic surgeries. This is about one, and only one, thing: making it harder to get access to an abortion, even those abortions which are unquestionably legal per Roe v. Wade.
So what type of changes would this make? Well, of course, it would require changes critical to getting a first trimester abortion, such as requiring clinics to have hallways wide enough to allow for two gurneys can pass at the same time, and other such measures which have nothing to do with getting an abortion, but make it near impossible for most of the state's abortion providers to comply.
Democrats have a 22-18 majority in the State Senate, but two shameful Democrats joined all 18 republicans to vote for the measure, making it a 20-20 tie, allowing Bolling to cast the tie-breaking vote in favor.
This also makes it easier for anti-abortion foes to put pressure on those clinics that can meet the regulations to stop providing abortions, and effectively reduces the number of such targets to 4. If they can pressure those 4 clinics to stop providing abortions, then all abortions at any stage will be de facto illegal in the state of Virginia.
This is crossposted at my new personal blog, Josh's Blog of Weirdness and Randomness