McDonnell says he had legal concerns about Virginia ultrasound bill

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell.

/ MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell on Friday explained his decision to call for amendments on a controversial bill requiring women to have ultrasounds before getting an abortion, noting that legal advisers had warned him it could be legally problematic.

"I got legal advice from various people, including my attorney general, that these kinds of mandatory invasive requirements might run afoul of Fourth Amendment law," McDonnell said in a Politico panel with Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley on Friday. "Those were the reasons."

The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable search and seizures.

The original version of the bill would have required women to undergo an ultrasound procedure prior to having an abortion, and to be offered the opportunity to see the ultrasound image or hear the fetal heartbeat. In the first trimester of pregnancy, however, a transvaginal ultrasound is often the only such procedure that can detect a fetus' heartbeat.

McDonnell suggested he had been unaware of the fact that the bill would have mandated the invasive transvaginal procedure.

"During the course of the discussion, after talking to lawyers and doctors on my own, after we started to hear some concerns raised in the legislature, I personally looked at - I mean, normally a governor would review these hundreds and hundreds of bills when they get to your desk. You're so busy advocating your agenda you don't read every legislator's bill," McDonnell said.

He added that he was "certainly supportive of that concept," and that "once we realized exactly the medical and legal issues involved I thought it was prudent to recommend to the General Assembly that they made a change."

"I support the bill. I still support the bill. That never forfeits a governor's rights to make amendments," McDonnell said.

The Virginia House of Delegates passed a version of the legislation on Wednesday that mandates transabdominal ultrasounds but not transvaginal ultrasounds. McDonnell said he expected the bill to land on his desk for a signature eventually.

"I believe that bill will pass. Virginia will have a strong women's right-to-know bill... I think it's the right decision," he added.

Democrats remain unhappy with the language, which they say still mandates unnecessary medical procedures. Many women's health activists also argue that mandating women to receive ultrasounds before having an abortion is a tactic aimed at convincing them out of going through with the procedure.

"Changing this bill from an unconscionable and unnecessary bill to a bad and unnecessary bill does not justify its passage or its signage. Let's be clear: the course of action that Governor McDonnell has advocated forces an unnecessary medical procedure on Virginia women whether their doctors think they need it or not," said Virginia Democratic chair Brian Moran on Wednesday.

According to a study by the Guttmacher institute, seven states currently require that abortion providers administer ultrasounds on women before performing an abortion. In Texas, the provider must also display and describe the image of the ultrasound.

[lg144]

"McDonnell says he had legal concerns about Virginia ultrasound bill"

McDonnell is lying he has been working toward this end for more than a decade plus he co wrote the original version of the bill that he claimed ignorance of its contents. Republicans cannot be trusted with the power of public office.

[nancy_naive]

Forget "Bob for Jobs".

From now on, your Delta House name shall be... "Stick it to 'em, Bob"

[ProgressNow]

Your boy Marshall sure has egg all over his face on this one Mort... He needs to resign...he's toxic even to the GOP.

[nancy_naive]

"I mean, normally a governor would review these hundreds and hundreds of bills when they get to your desk. You're so busy advocating your agenda you don't read every legislator's bill," McDonnell said.

THIS WAS HIS AGENDA.

[Lindag10]

He knew what was in the bill as he'd already said he was prepared to sign it. He's just trying to save face with this spin.

[nancy_naive]

Bob-for-Jobs McDonnell is a LIAR.

To believe what Bob is saying, you must believe that with his Regent University joke of a law degree, he didn't know the definition of "transvaginal", EVEN AFTER IT WAS EXPLAINED TO HIM 7 DAY EARLIER BY A DOCTOR.

He's a creep. The kind of man who enjoys the notion of using objects on a woman.

[nancy_naive]

silly

[jimatmadison]

Governor V-Probe knew what was in the bill and said he'd sign it.

It wasn't until the GOP anti-woman agenda saw the media light of day that he started backtracking and lying, backtracking and lying.

If McDonnell is still on a GOP short list of potential vice presidential candidates, the party is crazier and more determined to lose than I thought.

[nearl451]

Relatively astute of the Gov,especially during this election cycle.

[Jaylah54]

Oh yeah, once he found out that the bill would require essentially r*ping a woman with a phallic-shaped ultrasound probe, which would be illegal under the US Constitution, he thought the language should be changed.

Of course, if men were the ones that bore human babies, not only would there not be any bill forcing them to get an ultrasound, but abortion would never have been illegal in the first place. There would be free abortion clinics on street corners and men would brag about how many abortions they'd had. Any "pro-lifers" that decided to protest outside those clinics would be prosecuted for committing hate-crimes. Women who did not pay child support would be locked up in prison. Birth control for men would be free and -- if the men didn't "take care of it" -- women accidentally impregnating a man would be a criminal offense.