RICHMOND — Delegate Richard H. Black, R-Loudoun, has no apologies for sending state senators pink plastic replicas of a fetus last week.

Black sent the dolls, which are about two and half inches high, to the senators' offices Feb. 5, along with a letter condemning abortion. He said it was his idea, and he did it for legislative reasons.

"If we're legislating on abortion, it's important to know what a baby looks like at the end of the first trimester," Black said.

He responded Monday to criticism last week from some legislators -- including Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax – that the dolls were in poor taste.

"There are lawmakers, particularly the liberal Democrats, who are angered that people are allowed to know what a child looks like at that stage," Black said.

Sen. Toddy Puller, D-Fairfax, said she was appalled by Black's action.

She said she believes that even someone "who was pro-life would be offended by it. I don't think anybody was glad to receive that in the mail."

Along with the dolls, Black attached a letter on official state letterhead, asking senators, "Would you kill this child?"

Black sent the dolls and the letters on the General Assembly's "crossover day," when senators would start considering a flood of bills passed by the House of Delegates.

He is sponsoring two bills in particular concerning abortion:

• House Bill 1402 would require a physician to obtain parental consent before performing an abortion on a minor.
• House Bill 1406 would authorize specialty license plates with the logo, "CHOOSE LIFE." Proceeds from the sale of the plates would fund alternatives to abortion.

Both bills have cleared the House and will be heard in Senate committees this week.

Black is also co-patron of several anti-abortion bills. One proposal, House Bill 2367, would require abortion clinics to meet the licensing requirements currently in place for ambulatory surgery centers. The chief patron of HB 2367 is Delegate Robert G. Marshall, R-Manassas.

Black calls the fetus dolls "babies" and has them in his General Assembly office with information cards about 11- to 12-week-old fetuses.

His letter to senators said the doll was the exact size and shape of a first-trimester baby.

"You can see that by the 11th week of gestation, a child is well developed and unmistakably human," Black wrote.

He described an abortion in graphic detail: The fetuses "receive no painkillers and experience excruciating pain and terror during the final moments of life," his letter said.

He ended the letter with a prediction: "I believe that all abortions will end within the next ten years. And I believe that Virginia will lead the way in restoring the sanctity of human life."