Until recently, Virginia has had a long history of passing laws to restrict access to contraceptives, create barriers to abortion, and impose broad limitations on reproductive health care. Now, with anti-sexual and reproductive health candidates up and down the ticket, the stakes for Virginia in this election are immense. Virginians deserve access to quality reproductive health care without unnecessary barriers. To protect this care, all Virginians who support reproductive health care need to get to the polls by Tuesday!
The 2019 elections made history by bringing pro-reproductive health majorities across state government for the first time. The difference has been monumental. Just last year, Virginia still had on the books mandatory 24 hour waiting periods and medically unnecessary ultrasounds, as well as other targeted regulations of abortion providers, that kept essential health care out of reach for so many but just months after the historic 2020 election the pro-reproductive health majority was able to roll back many obstacles to care. While some of the most egregious bans in Virginia have been removed, there’s still so much more that needs to be done.
Former VA governor and now candidate Terry McAuliffe will expand access to care. Glenn Youngkin, on the other hand, has stated that he would roll back the reproductive health care wins that have been made. The race is tight and we need a win for McAuliffe to continue Virginia’s new path to expand, not roll back, access to health care.
Additionally, there are pro-reproductive health care incumbents in Northern Virginia in the House of Delegates who are locked in tight races with opponent’s hostile to abortion, separated by only razor-thin margins. Further, Delegate Hala Ayala, running for Lieutenant Governor, is a champion for reproductive health care - while her opponent, Winsome Sears, has gone so far as to even endorse Texas’ six-week ‘bounty hunter’ abortion ban.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is set to hear two cases related to abortion just in the next few days one regarding the horrifying Texas ban currently in effect and the other regarding the constitutionality of a 2018 Mississippi state law banning abortion after 15 weeks. It is essential that Virginians turn out to vote for pro-reproductive health care candidates to protect access in the great Commonwealth.
Join us: This weekend, on Monday, and on Election Tuesday, Planned Parenthood Advocates for DC, Maryland & NoVa is activating volunteers, knocking on doors, phone banking, and fighting for pro-reproductive healthcare candidates on the ballot in the Northern Virginia area. While it’s a common misconception that Northern Virginia is safely pro-reproductive healthcare and these seats are all but secure, this could be lost if voters don’t turn out. Northern Virginia has to show up for House of Delegates pro-reproductive health care candidates Delegate Wendy Gooditis, Delegate Dan Helmer, Briana Sewell, and for statewide candidates Terry McAuliffe for Governor, Hala Ayala for Lieutenant Governor, and Mark Herring for Attorney General. Simply put, in order to ensure that reproductive and sexual health care is protected in Virginia, we have to get out the vote.
Live in Northern Virginia and/or know folks who do? Here are more ways to help: Make sure your friends and family members who are pro-reproductive healthcare know what it means to have a pro-reproductive health care majority - and what it would mean to have it go away. Make your own plan to get to the polls by November 2nd, and help others who support reproductive healthcare make their plans as well. Encourage your friends, colleagues, and family members who care about preserving and expanding access to care to learn about the candidates running on the ticket and then get out and vote. Dozens of states are looking to ban abortion and even copy the Texas abortion ban, and that is not out of the question for Virginia if candidates like Youngkin are voted into office. We won’t go back. Join us!
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