To the Editor:
After reading Delegate David Albo’s summary of accomplishments during the 2012 session, as his constituent, I thought he left out an item of some importance: the day he lost his job.
I suppose if I were David Albo, I would not mention the day I stood on the floor of the House of Delegates and disgraced myself. David Albo joked on the floor about his failed attempt to convince his wife to have sex because the news coverage on his big screen TV (as big as his wall) about the, transvaginal (a word he could not say) ultrasound bill.
He wants you to think that his work on other topics eclipses his vote on HB 1 and HB 462 and his behavior on the floor that day. If you or I had done similar at our work place, we would have been fired by the end of the day.
David Albo does not want to mention his vote on HB 462, nor does he want to mention his vote on HB 1, known as the "personhood" bill.
These two bills, while a small percentage of the total work done this session, are in fact bills that will diminish Virginia’s attraction of new business and will impact every woman in Virginia.
If you are thinking these bills won’t affect you, let me remind you how the jurisdiction of the law works: once you cede jurisdiction over your body to the General Assembly to say you cannot have an abortion, then you have given them the jurisdiction to say, with the stroke of a pen, you must have an abortion.
HB 1, the "personhood" bill for which he voted, would define life at conception. Virginia is attempting to change the state code to define a fertilized egg as a legal person. This is the first step in establishing the state challenge to Roe vs. Wade.
HB 462 (minus the transvaginal requirement) was signed by the Governor, superseding a medical doctor’s decision of what is medically necessary for his/her patient, fining the doctor if he/she doesn’t comply and requiring the woman to pay for the procedure not covered by insurance.
These bills are a significant intrusion of the State upon personal liberty and are the building blocks for restricting a woman’s right to decide what happens to her body when she is pregnant.
David Albo lost his job representing me the day he mocked the seriousness of these bills and the high honor of asking for Personal Privilege to address the members of the House of Delegates on the Floor.
Teresa L. Champion
Springfield