Abortion in Virginia – Wikipedia

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Overview of the legality and prevalence of abortions in the U.S. state of Virginia

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Abortion in the U.S. state of Virginia is legal up to the end of the second trimester of a pregnancy.[1] Abortion was illegal in Virginia by 1900, but by 1950 had a legal therapeutic exception. At the University of Virginia Hospital in 1950, a review board was created to examine and approve all abortion requests that were approved for psychiatric reasons which resulted in a large drop in the number of abortions performed there. In the 1975 Bigelow v. Virginia case the US Supreme Court ruled that state bans on abortion clinics advertising their services were unconstitutional. By 2007, Virginia had an abortion-specific informed consent requirement. The number of abortion clinics in Virginia has fluctuated over the years, with 71 in 1982, 64 in 1992 and eighteen in 2014. There were 20,187 legal abortions in 2014, and 18,663 in 2015. There are active abortion rights and anti-abortion rights activist communities in the states. The state has also seen anti-abortion rights violence, including at least two arson attacks.

History[edit]

The University of Virginia created a review board in 1950 to examine and approve all abortion requests that were approved for psychiatric reasons. This had the impact of reducing the number of abortions performed at its facility to one in 1951.[2]

Legislative history[edit]

By the end of the 1800s, all states in the Union except Louisiana had therapeutic exceptions in their legislative bans on abortions.[3] In the 19th century, bans by state legislatures on abortion were about protecting the life of the mother given the number of deaths caused by abortions; state governments saw themselves as looking out for the lives of their citizens.[3]

In 1970 Virginia reformed their abortion laws based on the American Law Institute Model Penal Code.

The state was one of 23 states in 2007 to have a detailed abortion-specific informed consent requirement.[4] In 2013, state Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) law applied to medication induced abortions and private doctor offices in addition to abortion clinics.[5] In mid-May 2019, state law banned abortion after week 25.[6] On April 10, 2020, Democratic Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed bills removing regulations that had required abortion seekers to have an ultrasound at least 24 hours before receiving an abortion and to get counseling on alternatives to abortion, removing the requirement that facilities providing more than five abortions each year be designated as hospitals, and allowing nurse practitioners to perform first trimester abortions.[7]

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Currently, abortion is banned from the start of the third trimester, which begins in week 28 or 29 of a pregnancy.[citation needed][should state when VA defines 3rd trimester] Third-trimester abortions, which must be certified by a physician, are only allowed if continued pregnancy is found to pose an imminent danger to a woman’s life.[8] In order for a patient to terminate a pregnancy in the third trimester, three doctors must certify that continuing the pregnancy would likely cause the patient’s death or “substantially and irremediably impair” her mental or physical health.[9] In addition, State Medicaid coverage of abortion care is banned except in very limited circumstances, parental consent or notice is required for a minor’s abortion, and qualified health care professionals, not solely physicians, can provide abortions.

Judicial history[edit]

The US Supreme Court’s decision in 1973’s Roe v. Wade ruling meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester.[3] (However, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, No. 19-1392, 597 U.S. ___ (2022) later in 2022.[10][11])

The Bigelow v. Virginia case was decided by the US Supreme Court in 1975. The court ruled that state bans on abortion clinics advertising their services were unconstitutional as they violated freedom of speech and freedom of the press.[12]

Clinic history[edit]

Number of abortion clinics in Virginia by year

Between 1982 and 1992, the number of abortion clinics in the state declined by seventeen, going from 81 in 1982 to 64 in 1992.[13] In 2014, there were eighteen abortion clinics in the state.[14] In 2014, 92% of the counties in the state did not have an abortion clinic. That year, 78% of women in the state aged 15–44 lived in a county without an abortion clinic.[15] In 2017, there were five Planned Parenthood clinics, of which four offered abortion services, in a state with a population of 1,971,590 women aged 15–49.[16]

On May 9, 2007, an unidentified person deliberately set fire to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Virginia Beach, Virginia.[17]

Statistics[edit]

In the period between 1972 and 1974, the state had an illegal abortion mortality rate per million women aged 15–44 of between 0.1 and 0.9.[18] In 1990, 745,000 women in the state faced the risk of an unintended pregnancy.[13] In 2010, the state had two federally funded abortions.[19] In 2013, among white women aged 15–19, there were 1,090 abortions, 1,280 abortions for black women aged 15–19, 250 abortions for Hispanic women aged 15–19, and 190 abortions for women of all other races.[20] In 2014, 55% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.[21] In 2017, the state had an infant mortality rate of 5.9 deaths per 1,000 live births.[22]

Number of reported abortions, abortion rate and percentage change in rate by geographic region and state in 1992, 1995 and 1996[23]
Census division and state Number Rate % change 1992–1996
1992 1995 1996 1992 1995 1996
South Atlantic 269,200 261,990 263,600 25.9 24.6 24.7 –5
Delaware 5,730 5,790 4,090 35.2 34.4 24.1 –32
District of Columbia 21,320 21,090 20,790 138.4 151.7 154.5 12
Florida 84,680 87,500 94,050 30 30 32 7
Georgia 39,680 36,940 37,320 24 21.2 21.1 –12
Maryland 31,260 30,520 31,310 26.4 25.6 26.3 0
North Carolina 36,180 34,600 33,550 22.4 21 20.2 –10
South Carolina 12,190 11,020 9,940 14.2 12.9 11.6 –19
Virginia 35,020 31,480 29,940 22.7 20 18.9 –16
West Virginia 3,140 3,050 2,610 7.7 7.6 6.6 –14
Number, rate, and ratio of reported abortions, by reporting area of residence and occurrence and by percentage of abortions obtained by out-of-state residents, US CDC estimates
Location Residence Occurrence % obtained by

out-of-state residents

Year Ref
No. Rate^ Ratio^^ No. Rate^ Ratio^^
Virginia 20,444 12.1 198 20,187 12.0 195 5.9 2014 [24]
Virginia 18,501 11 179 18,663 11.1 181 5.2 2015 [25]
Virginia 16,913 10.1 165 17,058 10.2 166 6.0 2016 [26]
^number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44; ^^number of abortions per 1,000 live births

Abortion rights views and activities[edit]

Protests[edit]

Women from the state participated in marches supporting abortion rights as part of a #StoptheBans movement in May 2019.[27]

Anti-abortion views and activities[edit]

“Silent Siege” where youth prayed silently for the ending of abortion. April 26, 2008 in Richmond, Virginia.

Organizations[edit]

Virginia Society for Human Life (VSHL), a nonprofit organization advocating an end to abortion in Virginia and is the oldest pro-life organization in the US.[28][29][30]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “Interactive Map: US Abortion Policies and Access After Roe”.
  2. ^ Reagan, Leslie J. (1998-09-21). When Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867–1973. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520216570.
  3. ^ a b c Buell, Samuel (1991-01-01). “Criminal Abortion Revisited”. New York University Law Review. 66 (6): 1774–1831. PMID 11652642.
  4. ^ “State Policy On Informed Consent for Abortion” (PDF). Guttmacher Policy Review. Fall 2007. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
  5. ^ “TRAP Laws Gain Political Traction While Abortion Clinics—and the Women They Serve—Pay the Price”. Guttmacher Institute. 2013-06-27. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
  6. ^ Lai, K. K. Rebecca (2019-05-15). “Abortion Bans: 8 States Have Passed Bills to Limit the Procedure This Year”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  7. ^ “Virginia governor signs abortion protections into law | CNN Politics”. CNN. 10 April 2020.
  8. ^ “§ 18.2-74.1. Abortion, etc., when necessary to save life of woman”. Virginia’s Legislative Information System. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  9. ^ “The controversy around Virginia’s new abortion bill, explained”. February 2019.
  10. ^ de Vogue, Arinne (June 24, 2022). “Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade”. CNN. Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
  11. ^ Howe, Amy (June 24, 2022). “Supreme Court overturns constitutional right to abortion”. SCOTUSblog. Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
  12. ^ “Timeline of Important Reproductive Freedom Cases Decided by the Supreme Court”. American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  13. ^ a b Arndorfer, Elizabeth; Michael, Jodi; Moskowitz, Laura; Grant, Juli A.; Siebel, Liza (December 1998). A State-By-State Review of Abortion and Reproductive Rights. Diane Publishing. ISBN 9780788174810.
  14. ^ Gould, Rebecca Harrington, Skye. “The number of abortion clinics in the US has plunged in the last decade — here’s how many are in each state”. Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  15. ^ businessinsider (2018-08-04). “This is what could happen if Roe v. Wade fell”. Business Insider (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2019-05-24. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  16. ^ “Here’s Where Women Have Less Access to Planned Parenthood”. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  17. ^ “Planned Parenthood Arson”[permanent dead link]. WKTR. May 12, 2007. Retrieved May 14, 2007.
  18. ^ Cates, Willard; Rochat, Roger (March 1976). “Illegal Abortions in the United States: 1972–1974”. Family Planning Perspectives. 8 (2): 86–92. doi:10.2307/2133995. JSTOR 2133995. PMID 1269687.
  19. ^ “Guttmacher Data Center”. data.guttmacher.org. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  20. ^ “No. of abortions among women aged 15–19, by state of residence, 2013 by racial group”. Guttmacher Data Center. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
  21. ^ “Views about abortion by state – Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics”. Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  22. ^ “States pushing abortion bans have highest infant mortality rates”. NBC News. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  23. ^ Henshaw, Stanley K. (2005-06-15). “Abortion Incidence and Services in the United States, 1995-1996”. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. 30: 263–270. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
  24. ^ Jatlaoui, Tara C. (2017). “Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2014”. MMWR. Surveillance Summaries. 66 (24): 1–48. doi:10.15585/mmwr.ss6624a1. ISSN 1546-0738. PMC 6289084. PMID 29166366.
  25. ^ Jatlaoui, Tara C. (2018). “Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2015”. MMWR. Surveillance Summaries. 67 (13): 1–45. doi:10.15585/mmwr.ss6713a1. ISSN 1546-0738. PMC 6289084. PMID 30462632.
  26. ^ Jatlaoui, Tara C. (2019). “Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2016”. MMWR. Surveillance Summaries. 68 (11): 1–41. doi:10.15585/mmwr.ss6811a1. ISSN 1546-0738. PMID 31774741.
  27. ^ Bacon, John. “Abortion rights supporters’ voices thunder at #StopTheBans rallies across the nation”. USA Today. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  28. ^ Sadosky, Jeff (20 December 2007), Fred Thompson Receives the Endorsement of Virginia Society for Human Life (Press release), McLean, Virginia: Standard Newswire, retrieved 9 September 2013
  29. ^ “Moving Forward”. worldmag.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-04.
  30. ^ “Virginia Society for Human Life – About Us”. vshl.org. Retrieved 19 November 2015.


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