The voiceless have no vote except through the people of Virginia. What is important to know before the November election is that the governor and many in Virginia’s legislature have advanced a radical abortion agenda that eliminates reasonable measures protecting women’s safety and promotes a disregard for human life. The abortion extremism of these elected officials should be top of mind during the 2021 midterm elections.
Virginians are already rallying against these laws, and many Virginians are headed to Richmond on September 17 for the Virginia March for Life. There we will use our voices for the voiceless, but our efforts won’t have a lasting impact if voters don’t turn out on election day and stand for life.
We have seen that pro-abortion politicians in Virginia are advancing the agenda of groups like Planned Parenthood, our nation’s largest abortion provider, an organization that wants to eliminate virtually all restrictions on abortion. Unsurprisingly, these same elected officials have received large sums of money from pro-abortion groups. For example, Planned Parenthood donated $3 million to Gov. Ralph Northam during his 2017 campaign and provided him with talking points for messaging on such issues. Gov. Northam has deemed pro-abortion candidate Terry McAuliffe his successor.
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The most egregious example of the abortion lobby’s influence happened in 2019. Del. Kathy Tran proposed a bill that would have allowed abortion up until the moment of birth, including while the mother was in labor. When Tran admitted her legislation allowed abortion until birth, the bill failed but the risk of such legislation being passed and enacted in the future is real if abortion advocates maintain and advance control of the Virginia legislature.
Gov. Northam endorsed Tran’s bill and has been a vocal advocate for abortion during his tenure. When pressed about what would happen after a failed abortion, he said, “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
The governor then tried to defend his remarks by arguing that the thousands of late-term abortions performed annually only happen when the life of the mother is at stake or there is a fetal abnormality, but such a claim is erroneous. The scientific data show that most late-term abortions are elective and are not performed for reasons of health. Virginians need to deeply consider such attitudes and decide if they want their represented by such a person.
The election of Northam and other pro-abortion politicians has greatly benefitted the abortion lobby. In 2020, the Virginia legislature enacted a law eliminating many of the previous health safeguards on abortion. The bill ended the requirement that a woman have an ultrasound 24 hours before an abortion, and permitted non-physicians to perform first-trimester abortions in addition to eliminating other health regulations related to abortion.
This year the pro-abortion legislature continued to forward life-ending policies by passing legislation which opened the door to public funding of abortion. This bill permits insurers to include abortion coverage in insurance plans through Virginia’s Affordable Care Act health exchange, which uses taxpayer money to pay for running the exchange and subsidizing health plans.
Many state officials in Virginia are more committed to Planned Parenthood and NARAL than their constituents. Polling by Marist shows that 75 percent of Americans think abortion should be limited to – at most – the first trimester, and 60 percent don’t think taxpayers should foot the bill for abortions. Only 13 percent of Americans and 18 percent of Democrats supported Tran’s passionate call for legalizing third-trimester abortion without restrictions or limits.
This November, Virginia’s voters can reject extreme policies like the ones advanced in recent years by Tran and Northam, and, sadly, in years to come by Terry McAuliffe, should he win. Voting is one of the best ways to be a voice for the voiceless and to ensure abortion lobby groups don’t control our representatives, and ultimately, our laws.
LifeNews Note: Jeanne Mancini is president of March for Life.
