Del. Richard H. Black, R-Loudoun, said a conservative shift in the assembly over the past year, particularly in the Senate, bodes well for the passage of bills that would ban a type of late-term abortion and require parental consent for minors seeking abortions.

The House Courts of Justice Committee will consider legislation on both issues today. A Senate parental-consent bill could be heard in the Education and Health Committee on Thursday.

"Never has there been this degree of passion behind the pro-life movement in the General Assembly," Black said Friday. "For the first time, we are starting to get intense activism in the Senate."

The Senate has been the stumbling block for such legislation in the past. The consent bill, which sought to require the OK of a parent for unwed minors wanting abortions, failed on a tie vote in a Senate committee last year after sailing through the House.

A bill attempting to revive the state's ban on a late-term procedure commonly referred to as "partial-birth abortion" went through two Senate committees last year before being passed and eventually vetoed by Democratic Gov. Mark R. Warner.

The Senate came up three votes shy of overturning the veto.

But Black, who is sponsoring this year's parental-consent legislation in the House, said times are changing. Conservatives have made inroads in the Senate with the election last year of Ken Cuccinelli and Jay O'Brien to replace retiring Republican centrist Warren Barry and Democrat Madison Marye.

Black was particularly flattering toward Cuccinelli, a 34-year-old patent attorney from Fairfax County who came out strongly against Warner's Northern Virginia transportation sales-tax referendum in the fall.

"He is committed to ending abortion," Black said. "This is an election year in which the Republican conservative base is skeptical of the old-line leadership. They're demanding change. They want action."

Black said he has the support of all 23 Republicans and several Democrats in the Senate on the parental-consent bill, and he expects similar support on the partial-birth procedure.

Democratic Sen. Richard L. Saslaw, of Fairfax County, acknowledges that Republicans may have the votes to get both pieces of legislation to the governor's desk, but he is not certain they can override a veto.

Warner has said he will veto any legislation on partial-birth abortions that doesn't adequately protect the life and health of the mother. Spokeswoman Ellen Qualls said Warner has not taken a stance on parental consent.

"This has become the mantra of the Republican Party," Saslaw said. "When these people get into office, they do everything they can to stop [abortions]. The only thing that stops them from going all the way is the courts."

Virginia's 1998 law banning partial-birth abortions was voided by a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a similar law in Nebraska as unconstitutional. Republican legislators have since re-termed the rarely performed procedure "partial-birth infanticide" in an attempt to have the courts view it differently.

The bill in the House this year, sponsored by Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, would make performing the procedure a Class 4 felony, punishable with up to $100,000 in fines and 10 years in prison.

It grants exceptions to prevent the death of the mother "as long as every reasonable effort is made to preserve the life of both" the mother and infant.

Women who undergo the procedure could not be prosecuted under the bill.

Black said Republicans have worked hard to craft language he said would circumvent the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. But opponents argue there will be legal challenges anyway.

"I haven't seen anything to suggest this year's bill is any different from last year's," said Ben Greenberg, a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia. "[Republicans] think they are going to get some mileage out of it, but at a time like this, it is a huge waste of public resources and time."

Greenberg said the last time the state enacted such a bill, it cost Virginia more than $160,000 in court costs and legal fees to defend the doomed measure.

Regardless of the legal issues, though, Black said even Warner cannot deny the growing support for the legislation in Virginia. He said the failure of the Warner-championed transportation referendums last fall may improve the chances of getting the governor on board.