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Virginia Senate Democrats killed Republican abortion restriction proposals
Virginia state Senate Democrats killed multiple bills this morning that would have imposed new restrictions on abortion in Virginia.
The three bills that were up and were killed:
SB1284 from Sen. Travis Hackworth (R) would have banned abortion except for the case of rape or incest. This bill states that life begins at conception.
SB1385 from Sen. Steve Newman (R) would have banned abortion in Virginia at 15 weeks. This bill also includes an exception for the mother’s health and rape and incest. Del. Kathy Byron (R) is sponsoring the companion bill in the House of Delegates.
SB1483 from Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant (R) would have reduced the limit on abortion from 26 weeks as it currently is to 24 weeks. Dunnavant’s bill would have outlawed any third-trimester abortions unless the mother’s life is in jeopardy.
“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. All three of the dangerous anti-abortion proposals before this committee represented grave threats to Virginians’ health and rights, and we are thrilled to now celebrate their defeat,” said Jamie Lockart, the Executive Director for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia. “We are grateful to our legislative champions on the Senate Education and Health Committee, Senators Lucas, Saslaw, Howell, Locke, Barker, Petersen, Edwards, Hashmi, and McPike, whose votes today reflected the will of the people in our commonwealth and protected patients’ access to essential health care free from political interference.”
The Democrats on the Senate Education and Health Committee used their majority and voted in lockstep against passing these bills. Dunnavant, the patron of one of the bills, “took a walk” and did not vote on the three bills. She is facing a tough reelection contest this year in her new district.
“If Senator Dunnavant now believes that the GOP should not restrict the rights of Virginian women, then we invite her to share this change of heart with her constituents. Otherwise, we encourage her to show up for votes on her own bills and stop trying to hide her policy agenda,” said Liam Watson, press secretary for the Democratic Party of Virginia.
Democrats will likely have to do this again after crossover day when bills that have passed the Republican-controlled House of Delegates will be debated in the Senate.
Republican Geary Higgins is dropping out of the SD-31 race and endorsing Juan Pablo Segura for the nomination. Higgins will instead run for the nomination in HD-30. Pablo will have a lot of money for this race.
