Kathy J. Byron (born September 5, 1953) is an American politician. She was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1997 as a Republican, representing the 22nd district in the Virginia Piedmont, consisting of parts of Bedford, Campbell and Franklin Counties and the city of Lynchburg. Byron and her husband received a tax break designated for a person’s primary residence in Florida, she says her husband is a resident but she is not.
Virginia House of Delegates
In February 2012, Byron sponsored HB462, a bill that would require that Virginia women seeking an abortion would have to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound, without her written consent and even if it is against the wishes of her doctor.
After the controversy caused by passing of this bill by Virginia representatives, Governor Bob McDonnell amended the bill to include language that would require the written consent of the woman seeking an abortion, and would also require only a transabdominal ultrasound. However, Byron urged rejection of the amendment on its grounds that a transvaginal ultrasound is an invasive procedure because, "[i]f we want to talk about invasiveness, there's nothing more invasive than the procedure that she is about to have," she said, referring to her belief that abortions harm viable persons within the womb.
In January 2017, she proposed HB2108, a bill that would prevent municipalities from expanding beyond their current footprint and from building and offering broadband to those within the municipalities.
In September 2023 Byron resigned from the Virginia House after being appointed as deputy director for external affairs at the Virginia Department of Workforce Development and Advancement.