Virginia has restrictive laws on abortion when compared with many other states, requiring a 24-hour waiting period and ultrasounds for pregnant women seeking the procedure as well as consent for minors seeking an
abortion among other requirements, the legal website FindLaw noted.
As recently as May 2015, the debate in the state continued as the current attorney general moved to overturn laws passed by his predecessor on a massive closure of state
abortion clinics, WAMU 88.5 American University Radio reported.
"It's an issue that is not going away, and groups that are on either side of it are going to spend a lot of money on elections to try to support their position going forward," Geoff Skelley of the University of Virginia Center for Politics told WAMU.
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In 2012, passage of two abortion laws sparked heated debate in the Virginia General Assembly. One, which granted "personhood status" at conception, angered one lawmaker, Delegate Charnielle Herring, who called it "an attack on women's health,"
CBS News reported.
Added Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, in a statement to CBS News: "The General Assembly is dangerously close to making Virginia the first state in the country to grant personhood rights to fertilized eggs."
On the state's ultrasound requirement bill, its sponsor Republican Delegate Kathy Byron, said: "This may be the most important decision that she ever makes in her life. A tough decision. And we determined over a decade ago that we were going to ensure that a woman has a right to have all the information avail to her before making that decision."
Debate in June 2015 centered on regulations aimed at the state's abortion clinics that have not met certain new building code requirements.
WVIR-TV said 13 of 18 had received waivers to stay open through next year.
Some applauded the tighter scrutiny.
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"This is about the health and safety of women, and every woman should be able to trust that any facility that they walk into, is going to be safe," Family Foundation of Virginia President Victoria Cobb told the station of the codes.
Others said they were glad the facilities would remain open. "It's absolutely wonderful that the women of Virginia know that those facilities will be in place," Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia Executive Director Cianti Stewart-Reid told WVIR-TV.
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