Bill That Would Have Required Patients Receive Info on ‘Baby Boxes’ Prior to Abortions Defeated

House Bill 542 by Del. Karen Hamilton, R-Culpeper, which would have required people seeking abortions to first be informed about an option to give up unwanted babies, was laid aside in a House of Delegates subcommittee Tuesday, blocking it from moving forward for the rest of the legislative session.

The bill would have mandated that prior to consenting to the procedure, abortion patients receive written information about “safe haven provisions” — boxes that contain bassinets where people can safely and anonymously surrender a newborn.

The product stems from a national nonprofit organization that installs them as another option for people who choose to give up a child.

Virginia’s first such box was installed in a parking garage at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital last summer. When a baby is placed inside, and the device is closed, its temperature-controlled interior locks as a silent alarm alerts medical staff at the hospital to retrieve and care for the infant, Cardinal News reported.

The devices aren’t used widely in Virginia; Hamilton said she wanted more people to learn about them through her legislation.

“Many women in crisis simply do not know this option exists,” she said during the health subcommittee meeting Tuesday night, where her bill was defeated. “This bill is about choice, it’s about transparency, and it’s about compassion.”

Virginia Society for Human Life lobbyist Jennifer Hubert added during public comment that “being made aware of alternative options is essential to consent.”

Opponents to the bill suggested its intent was more about preventing abortion or delaying the procedure.

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia director Jamie Lockhart said the bill is “about shaming patients” rather than helping them.

“It forces people seeking abortion to listen to a lecture about ‘newborn safety devices’ before care. That is not providing relevant medical information. It is emotional pressure,” she said. “Abortion patients have already thought deeply about their decision. They know what is best for their lives and their families.”

A prior version of the bill, before Hamilton amended it, referred to the boxes as “newborn safety devices.”

Meanwhile, Lockhart said she believes that Hamilton’s bill is considered a “TRAP law,” which stands for Targeted Restrictions of Abortion Providers. These types of laws typically have the goal of reducing abortion access or shutting down clinics through dictating things like where a clinic can be located or forcing clinics to meet the same physical, structural, and staffing standards as hospitals with ambulatory care centers.

In defending her bill, Hamilton emphasized how it “does not prohibit any choices that women currently have.”

Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, also suggested that people who have approached a physician about an abortion are more likely made up their minds by that point.

“It seems very presumptive that someone who is there for an abortion does not already know exactly the reason that they’re in the room,” Price said, who made the motion to lay the bill on the table.

Price’s motion succeeded with a vote of 7 to 1, meaning the bill will not continue to advance in this legislative session.

The proposal comes as lawmakers advanced a constitutional amendment that would protect a variety of reproductive rights, including abortion, even if the U.S. Supreme Court further rolls back federal protections.

Virginians will have the ability to approve or reject the amendment in a referendum, expected in November.

by Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury

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