Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell signed into law Wednesday a controversial bill that requires women to have an abdominal ultrasound before having an abortion. The law will go into effect in July for abortion providers in the state. This bill had originally included a provision that called for women to have an vaginally invasive procedure known as a transvaginal ultrasound before having an abortion, but McDonnell had his party remove that provision. The ultrasound bill was part of a number of hotly contested anti-abortion legislation that included stripped state funding for abortions sought by indigent women carrying fetuses with profound and incapacitating deformities and would have given embryos full personhood—which would outlaw all abortions and even some forms of contraception if Roe v. Wade is overturned. The ultrasound bill had drawn fierce protests at the Capitol on Saturday, and at least 30 people were arrested.
