Where good legislation goes to die

The Family Foundation of Virginia recently published its summary of the regular session of the Virginia General Assembly. The report lists the fortunes of the most important pro-family legislation proposed in Richmond in 2004. There are victories and defeats. Many of the defeats, however, got buried in a common grave: the Senate Education and Health Committee.

Education and Health consists of eight Republicans and seven Democrats. Under circumstances in which Republicans voted like Republicans, pro-life and pro-family legislation would clear this committee, in spite of the fact that it includes some of the most liberal Democrats in the Senate. However, the committee also includes some of the chamber's most liberal Republicans. Liberals from both sides of the aisle -- but from only one side of the fence -- often team up to defeat proposals designed to protect Virginia families.

While abortion is a hotly contested issue, it should be generally agreed that abortion providers should be at least as safe as other medical facilities. House Bill 116 would have required any facility that performs more than 25 first trimester abortions per year to be licensed and to comply with requirements currently in place for ambulatory surgery centers. This simple common-sense proposal passed the House of Delegates 69-28. It was defeated in Senate Education and Health, 9-6.

Another House bill would have required that abortion providers give the unborn child anesthesia at a level similar to a patient undergoing an amputation. Liberal Senators complained that this would increase the cost of an abortion. These are the same senators who are eagerly looking for ways to raise taxes on every Virginian (except abortion providers). Once again, more than two-thirds of the Delegates supported this legislation, but thanks to a 9-5 vote in Education and Health, aborted babies in Virginia will continue to have fewer rights than animals.

HB1403 would have prevented anyone from prescribing the so-called morning after pill to a minor without parental consent. This medication requires more care than say, most pain relievers, for which parental consent is necessary. Nevertheless, the same liberal Republican-liberal Democrat alliance on Education and Health defeated the ban and left teenagers to the mercy of profit-seeking prescribers. (Parents, of course, retain the responsibility for dealing with any medical or emotional trauma that follows an abortion.)

While there were numerous other examples of ultra-liberal votes from Senate Education and Health, the record on pro-life and pro-family legislation was not all bad. Both chambers passed resolutions calling upon the U.S. Congress to pass a Federal Marriage Amendment, and indicated the intention to ratify such an amendment if it does pass Congress.

The General Assembly also turned back two attempts to force health insurers to include the morning after pill as one of their benefits. The session saw a back-door attempt to get abortion pills into the mainstream by redefining chemical abortion pills as "contraceptives," even though they are designed to be taken after conception has already taken place (thus "morning after pill"). Senate Education and Health passed this bill, only to have it killed (for the moment) by the full Senate.

An important issue whose final outcome is still pending is House Bill 675, which will remove the requirement that parents have a baccalaureate degree, just to exercise their educational rights. Extensive independent research shows absolutely no connection between the educational level of parents and the success of the children they homeschool. Gov. Warner "amended" the legislation to restore the degree requirement. In effect, he vetoed the legislation without saying he was doing so. The House of Delegates defeated Warner's "amendment," but not by a two-thirds majority. Thus, Warner will have another chance to stand between parents and children, if he chooses to do so.

The 2004 record on family legislation would have been much more positive had it not been for the anti-family majority on the Senate Education and Health Committee. Two leaders of this majority are Russell Potts (R-Winchester) and John Edwards (D-Roanoke). Potts' votes are puzzling until we take into account reports that he is considering a run for statewide office on the Republican side. According to one report, Potts believes that he can get the nomination if he can convince enough Democrats to vote for him in the Republican primary.

Edwards is reportedly also considering a run for statewide office, and he has to appease the ultra-liberal nominating wing of his party. This doesn't excuse his votes, but it does explain them. And, they should prevent him from reinventing himself as a moderate someday.