Va. Code sec. For the stage subsequent to viability, the State in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where it is necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life and health of the mother. Chuck Robb is a lawyer, and when he was in private practice he was a good one. As a public servant, he has shown a lawyer's familiarity with caselaw. I assume that he has read Roe v. Wade and its progeny.
Abortion is a far more complex issue legally than politicians want to deal with.
Roe v. Wade was brought alleging that there was a right of privacy at stake. Christian Coalition folks want to turn Roe v. Wade into a sign of the moral degradation of our time, that there should be a privacy right to kill babies. Roe v. Wade is really about deciding when government has a right to make a decision and when the woman and her doctor have the right to make that decision. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer. In the first trimester, says the Court, the government has absolutely no right to make a decision about appropriate medical care for a pregnant mother.