proclamation an "error of haste and not of heart." State health benefits for same-sex partners In December 2009, Governor Kaine had started a process to extend state employee health benefits to same-sex partners. At McDonnell's request, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued a legal opinion that this change to the coverage of the state employees' health plan could not be made without explicit legislation authorizing it, thereby halting the administrative process to make the change. However, McDonnell signed a law allowing Virginia employers to offer private life insurance coverage for employees' same-sex partners, after the bill passed with bipartisan support. Death sentence for Teresa Lewis In a decision that drew controversy, McDonnell declined to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment in the case of Teresa Lewis, who was executed on September 23, 2010. She was the first woman executed in Virginia since 1912. Calls had been made for leniency, citing her below average mental capacity. Abortion In 2012, national attention was focused on a bill before the Virginia state legislature, controlled by Republicans, to require a trans-vaginal ultrasound for any woman contemplating an abortion in Virginia. McDonnell initially supported the bill, but backed off after public protests. He persuaded the legislators to pass instead a slightly watered-down version requiring a less invasive abdominal ultrasound before an abortion and exempting women who were pregnant as a result of rape or incest, provided they reported it to the police. The redrafted bill was opposed by pro-choice groups and a minority in the legislature, but McDonnell signed it into law on March 7, 2012. McDonnell was called "Governor Vagina", "Governor Ultrasound", and other similar pejorative monikers by legislators opposing the controversial bill. Voting rights restoration for felons In April 2010, McDonnell drew criticism from black leaders and civil rights groups when a draft policy proposal was mistakenly sent to 200 felons, informing them of his decision to require a written essay from each applicant seeking to have voting and other civil rights restored. Previously, applicants were required to fill out a one-page application. Only Virginia and Kentucky require the governor to act on individual requests for restoring voting rights. On May 21, McDonnell announced new policies on the issue of restoration of rights, imposing a 60-day deadline for his administration to act on an application once all of the required documentation was received from the applicant and the courts; reducing the time nonviolent