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Virginia Senate Democrats throw out Gov. Glenn Youngkin's anti-abortion agenda in key votes [1]
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Date: 2023-01-27
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin
Virginia Senate Democrats knew just what to do with Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s anti-abortion agenda — toss it into the trash.
They stood up for abortion rights in key votes on Thursday. The Senate Committee on Education and Health rejected three Republican-sponsored bills that would have restricted access to abortion in the state, including a measure for a 15-week ban backed by Youngkin.
The Associated Press reported:
They are the first decisive legislative votes in Virginia since the Supreme Court’s decision last year overturning Roe v. Wade. The votes mean that barring an extraordinary procedural move, such restrictions are unlikely to be enacted this year in Virginia, which currently has some of the South’s most permissive abortion laws. “The truth is, as long as Senate Democrats have our majority, the brick wall will stand strong and these extreme bills will never pass,” Sen. L. Louise Lucas said in a news conference after the hearing.
Lucas, who chairs the education and health committee, sent out a Tweet that showed just what her panel would do with Youngkin’s anti-abortion bills — “put them straight into my trash can.”
x All of Glenn Youngkin’s bills to limit abortion rights come to my committee.
I put them straight into my trash can. pic.twitter.com/yVOXPE11X4 — L. Louise Lucas (@SenLouiseLucas) January 25, 2023
Republicans control Virginia’s House of Delegates, but even if the lower chamber passed any anti-abortion bill, it would likely die in the Senate.
Under its current law, Virginia allows abortions during the first and second trimesters. Abortions may be performed during the third trimester only if multiple physicians certify that continuing the pregnancy is likely to “substantially and irremediably” impair the mental or physical health of the woman or result in her death.
The Senate panel rejected a bill backed by Youngkin that would have banned abortions after 15 weeks, with narrow exceptions for rape, incest and the life or physical well-being of the woman. It also made it a felony, punishable by two to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000, for any physician who violated the law.
It was a setback for Youngkin who had made the 15-week ban a priority in his December budget proposal.
The committee also rejected on party-line votes two other bills sponsored by Republican lawmakers. One would have banned nearly all abortions, with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, and make performing an “unlawful abortion” a felony. The second was a less restrictive measure that would have placed new limits on third trimester abortions, allowing them only in cases where the woman’s life was at risk.
Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, said in a statement:
“Despite Gov. Youngkin and his allies relentless efforts to undermine our health and rights, today we reaffirmed that there is no place for abortion bans in Virginia. When our right are on the line, Virginians show up.”
x 🚨BREAKING NEWS 🚨 @SenLouiseLucas made good on her promise to block abortion bans in Virginia! No bans. Not today. Not ever! #Bansoffourbodies #VAGeneralAssembly pic.twitter.com/J7592AncGP — Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia (@PPAVirginia) January 26, 2023
Lockhart also noted that Virginians “showed up earlier this month to elect an abortion rights champion, Sen. Aaron Rouse, in the special election that flipped a seat for the first time in 25 years.”
Elections matter. Rouse’s victory expanded Democrats’ narrow control of the state Senate. There had been concern that one Democratic senator, Joe Morrissey, might be willing to support some abortion restrictions, enabling the Republican lieutenant governor to cast a tie-breaking vote.
On Tuesday, Virginia Democrats proposed a state constitutional amendment for reproductive freedom that would guarantee a woman’s right to have an abortion,
“As someone who nearly died at childbirth, and now sees that my daughter, when she reaches childbearing years, may not have the same rights I had in our federal constitution, I am determined that she will have those rights in our state constitution,” said State Sen. Jennifer McClellan.
McClellan said the amendment would basically codify in the state the rights to an abortion guaranteed by the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which the conservative majority on the high court overturned last year.
McClellan is the Democratic candidate in the Feb. 21 special election to fill the House seat held by the late Rep. Donald McEachin, who died in late November after winning re-election. McClellan is bidding to be the first black woman to represent Virginia in Congress, and is running in a safely Democratic district.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/27/2149528/-Virginia-Senate-Democrats-throw-out-Gov-Glenn-Youngkin-s-anti-abortion-agenda-in-key-votes
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