RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR)- The full House of Delegates passed a bill Friday that would repeal state funding for low-income women, expecting a child who could be born with severe mental or physical handicaps.
House Bill 62, introduced by Delegate Mark Cole (R- Fredericksburg) would prohibit the state Board of Health from authorizing abortions for women who are financially eligible for the State Plan for Medical Assistance, “in cases in which a physician certifies that he believes the fetus would be born with a gross and totally incapacitating deformity or mental deficiency”.
The bill cleared the House of Delegates on a 64 to 35 vote.
Meanwhile, in a senate committee Thursday, lawmakers failed to break a tie vote on a Senate Bill 637, proposed legislation that would prohibit women from having an abortion after the twentieth week of pregnancy under the assumption that a fetus at that stage of development, may feel pain. The gridlock caused the bill to be defeated.
