RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republican Del. Robert G. Marshall said he will introduce a bill in the upcoming General Assembly session that would prevent Virginia from recognizing civil unions between gay couples from other states.

Marshall said Virginia has a law that bans the recognition of gay marriages from other states, but not civil unions. Only Vermont allows civil unions between gays.

“You can go to Vermont right now and do it, and we’d be hard-pressed not to recognize it,” said Marshall, of Prince William, at the second annual Associated Press Day at the Capitol.

Marshall said the recent Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling calling that state’s ban of same-sex marriages unconstitutional might give Virginians more incentive to get civil unions recognized here.

Del.-elect Adam Ebbin of Fairfax, who will be the state’s only openly gay legislator, said Marshall’s proposal was unnecessary.

“I don’t know why we find it so threatening when two people who care about each other want to visit each other in the hospital,” Ebbin said, referring to next-of-kin privileges that currently are not granted to gay couples.

Ebbin said time would be better spent arguing other issues because, “Virginia is not going to be the third state to recognize civil unions, it’s not going to be the fourth state, not the 20th state.”

Marshall, one of the legislature’s more conservative members, said he also plans to introduce legislation that would tighten medical regulations placed on abortion clinics, which passed the House last year but was stymied in the Senate.

Marshall has become an outspoken opponent of Virginia colleges distributing the pills on campus. His criticism earlier this year led George Mason and James Madison universities to ban the pills at their health centers.

“We don’t want (legislators) denying students the right to information and options. That’s wrong,” said Anna Priday, a junior at Virginia Commonwealth University who is a member of Students for Planned Parenthood.