{"id":197477,"date":"2019-02-28T06:21:43","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T12:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=197477"},"modified":"2019-02-28T11:56:10","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T17:56:10","slug":"virginia-bill-surrogacy-forced-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/virginia-bill-surrogacy-forced-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia passes bill allowing surrogacy contracts to include forced abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(LifeSiteNews<\/a>) \u2013 A bill dramatically expanding surrogacy\u00a0and\u00a0erasing<\/a>\u00a0the words \u201cfather,\u201d \u201cmother,\u201d \u201chusband,\u201d and \u201cwife\u201d from certain laws has passed both chambers of the Virginia legislature and\u00a0now awaits the governor\u2019s signature<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The bill, HB 1979,\u00a0expands the availability of surrogacy and defines parenthood based on \u201cintent\u201d rather than biology<\/a>. The Virginia House of Delegates approved HB 1979 on February 5; the state Senate passed a version 28 to 12 on February 18, and\u00a0then the House approved the Senate version on February 20<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The bill \u201callows surrogacy contracts to include forced abortions, including \u2018selective reductions,\u2019 which is the horrific practice of killing some of the babies in the womb, while leaving one or more alive,\u201d\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0Victoria Cobb, President of the Family Foundation of Virginia. \u201cSome contracts also allow the intended parents to be able to require abortion of the child(ren) if the child appears to have a disability, or simply if they change their minds about wanting the child. This is commonplace in surrogacy contracts, and current Virginia law does not prohibit these types of agreements. This bill will greatly expand the number of surrogacy contracts, but without doing anything to protect against forced abortions at the demands of the \u2018intended parents.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats fought against<\/a>\u00a0a Senate amendment preventing surrogacy contracts from containing clauses requiring surrogates to be forced to undergo abortions in certain circumstances.<\/p>\n

Del. Danica Roem, D-13, a man who purports to be a woman, celebrated the passage of the bill, sharing on Twitter that the bill is personal to him because he is undergoing\u00a0cryopreservation<\/a>, through which his sperm can be saved and used to create a child.<\/p>\n

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Today in the House of Delegates, we voted in favor of final passage for making our surrogacy laws gender neutral so it\u2019s easier for LGBTQ folks to become parents & we voted to eliminate age restrictions on autism-related health insurance coverage.
\nHere\u2019s the latest from Richmond: pic.twitter.com\/j6N4PdgVzA<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Danica Roem (@pwcdanica) February 21, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n