Siobhan Dunnavant is an anti-abortion politician who sponsored and supported abortion bans. 

If she wins re-election, we could have an abortion ban in Virginia.

Statement from Jamie Lockhart, Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia:

“Abortion rights are a central issue for voters, with over 70% of Virginians believing abortion should be legal. Yet, Siobhan Dunnavant continues to peddle dangerous misinformation about essential health care while attempting to distract voters from her true intentions–to pass an abortion ban in Virginia. In fact, Dunnavant has rejected the advice of her own obstetric peers so she can deliver an abortion ban straight to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s desk.  

We’ve seen the horrific impact of abortion bans across the country. People are forced to give birth, even when it puts their lives at risk or when their pregnancies are nonviable. One in three American women now live in states where they no longer have control over their bodies. We can’t let the same happen in Virginia. 

How close to death does someone have to be before Siobhan Dunnavant feels they deserve health care? 

Abortion is on the ballot. Seventy-eight percent of Americans say the decision whether to have an abortion should be left to a woman and her doctor, rather than regulated by law. Virginians will see her stance for exactly what it is – an attack on our reproductive freedom and an attempt to take decisions and access away from patients.”

Timeline of Dunnavant's Anti-Abortion Policies and Opinions:

• 2015: Siobhan Dunnavant touted that she was “pro-life” in campaign ads, said she was  “committed to pro-life values,” and that she would “stand up for pro-life values” during her  first Senate campaign. 

• January 2016: Siobhan Dunnavant voted against Senate Bill 53 which would have repealed Virginia's pre-abortion ultrasound requirement. 

• March 2016: Siobhan Dunnavant voted to defund Planned Parenthood (House Bill 1090), which annually  performs more than 500,000 breast cancer exams and pap tests nationally. “Planned  Parenthood’s clinics in Richmond, Hampton, Virginia Beach, Charlottesville and Roanoke  mostly provide cancer screenings, family planning services, contraceptive counseling, and  testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, according to the organization. Nationally, abortions make up about 3 percent of the group’s services.” 

• January 2017: Siobhan Dunnavant voted against SB 1424 to allow a woman “to choose not to  receive additional, non-medical information” about abortion from her doctor and to end “the  requirement that she wait [24 hours] or undergo an ultrasound procedure if she decided to  have an abortion.” 

• January 2017: Siobhan Dunnavant voted against SB 1549 to end requiring an ultrasound prior to  an abortion and to end requirements that clinics that provide abortions “meet the regulatory standards for hospitals.” 

• February 2017: Siobhan Dunnavant voted against HB 2267 that allowed women “to obtain a  year’s worth of birth control at one time if prescribed by a doctor.” 

• February 2017: Siobhan Dunnavant claimed that IUDs “can cause abortions” during a debate  on “allocating federal welfare dollars for long-term, reversible contraceptives for low-income  women.” Dunnavant supported “funding only chemical implants, and not intrauterine  devices, or IUDs,” and claimed that the “difference… is that the chemical implant  ‘suppresses ovulation and therefore is not an abortifacient,’ meaning it doesn’t cause  abortion.” 

• February 2017: Siobhan Dunnavant voted to pass HB 2264 which would defund Planned Parenthood.

• January 2018: Siobhan Dunnavant voted against SB 910 which would “enshrine in the Virginia Code a pregnant person’s ‘fundamental right to obtain an abortion’” and eliminate restrictions on it. 

• January 2018: Siobhan Dunnavant voted against SB 1424 to allow a woman “to choose not to  receive additional, non-medical information” about abortion from her doctor and to end “the  requirement that she wait [24 hours] or undergo an ultrasound procedure if she decided to  have an abortion.” 

• January 2018: Siobhan Dunnavant voted against SB 292 that requires the Board of Health to  fund abortions for rape and incest victims who qualify for state medical assistance. 

• April 2018: Siobhan Dunnavant proposed an amendment to HB 5002 to cut funding for contraception for  low-income women. 

• May 2018: Siobhan Dunnavant voted to pass an amendment to HB 5002 to eliminate funding for abortion services. 

• January 2019: Siobhan Dunnavant voted against SB 1451 to eliminate “the state’s  requirements women get an ultrasound before an abortion.” 

• January 2020: Siobhan Dunnavant voiced support for requiring a 24-hour waiting period  before an abortion and called it “an ‘incredibly prudent’ intervention.” Dunnavant claimed  she had “the ‘painful’ experience of counseling patients who acted quickly to have an  abortion… only to later regret their decision” (Associated Press, 01/24/20). 

• February 2020: Siobhan Dunnavant voted against HB 552, “legislation explicitly stating that the use of FDA-approved birth control will not be considered abortion under state code.” The  legislation, which Schuyler VanValkenburg voted for, was supported by “the Medical  Society of Virginia, which represents doctors around the state.” 

• March 2020: Siobhan Dunnavant voted against SB 733 and HB 980, collectively known as the Reproductive Health Protection Act,  which repealed “the state’s mandatory ultrasound law and 24-hour waiting period prior to  abortion.” Schuyler VanValkenburg supported this legislation. 

• February 2021: Siobhan Dunnavant voted against SB 1276 in January, and its House version, HB 1896 in February. This legislation would have allowed “abortion coverage for health insurance plans offered in Virginia through the health benefits exchange,” which made “abortions more affordable for thousands of women in Virginia.” Schuyler VanValkenburg voted for this legislation. 

• February 2022: Siobhan Dunnavant voted for SB 710, a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks without exceptions for rape or incest. 

• February 2022: Siobhan Dunnavant signed an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme  Court “in support of a Texas law that required abortion clinics to meet the criteria of  ambulatory surgical care units; required that physicians have privileges at a hospital within 30 miles; banned abortions at 20 weeks or later, with exceptions only for life of the patient or severe fetal anomalies – but not for rape or incest.”

• January 2023: Siobhan Dunnavant sponsored SB 1483 “to ban most abortions after 22 to 24  weeks.” She said it was “‘a reasonable attempt to find consensus,’” claiming, “‘You  shouldn’t have an abortion when a baby can live outside the mom.’”