02.16.01

By Jay-Anne Casuga

During a session that lasted more than three hours, the Senate Committee on Education and Health yesterday endorsed legislation that would filter the Internet in public schools, prohibit human cloning and increase access to emergency contraception.

Delegate Richard H. Black, R-Sterling, introduced the Internet filtration legislation to protect school children from viewing online pornography with software designed to block objectionable material. The measure, which passed 14-1, would bring the state in compliance with the federal Children’s Internet Protection Act, which then-President Bill Clinton signed into law last December.

Black introduced a substitute that would extend Internet filtering to private schools that accept federal funds.

Virginia’s American Civil Liberties Union opposed the bill, arguing that filters are not infallible and that children can circumvent them.

Black agreed that filters would not block pornography completely, but at least would lessen the chances of children gaining access to it.

"It’s like a stop light. A stop light doesn’t stop everybody from running them," he said. "But you wouldn’t want to do without them."

The committee unanimously voted in favor of legislation that would ban human cloning in the commonwealth.

"A couple years ago everybody thought this was so far off it would never occur," said the bill’s patron, Delegate Robert F. "Bob" McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach. "But it’s here."

Previously, the legislation only outlawed human cloning if the clones were borne from women. The bill did not take into consideration surrogate motherhood, which means that non-human mammals, such as gorillas, could give birth to human babies.

McDonnell amended the bill to avoid these so-called loopholes, prohibiting non-human mammals from bearing human babies.

"We’re setting a statement of policy that we’re not going to clone human beings in Virginia," McDonnell said.

An emergency contraception bill introduced by Delegate Viola Baskerville, D-Richmond, made its way through the committee with relative ease, despite the controversy it sparked in the House of Delegates.

Her measure would increase the availability of emergency contraception by allowing physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners to dispense the medication so women can receive the treatment earlier. Currently, a woman must first obtain a prescription before she can receive the treatment from a pharmacist.

"These pills prevent pregnancy when taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex," Baskerville said. "If we in Virginia are serious about reducing the number of abortions in our state, the only common sense way we can do that is to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies."

The bill passed with an 11-3 vote.

In other motions, the committee:

• Failed to report bills that would have reduced the importance of Standards of Learning tests in graduation requirements. The committee sent the measures to the State Board of Education for further study.

• Approved legislation that requires meningitis vaccinations for every incoming freshman attending public universities.

• Endorsed a measure that allows access to mental health records for authorizing concealed hand gun permits and licenses for the sale of firearms.

The House bills approved by the committee will now face the full Senate. If passed and then signed by Gov. Jim Gilmore, they will become law.