Three Virginia Democrats led a rally in Charlottesville this week to put pressure on the MAGA governor, Glenn Youngkin, to sign the Virginia Right to Contraception Act.
The deadline for Youngkin to act on companion bills patroned by State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Richmond, and Del. Marcia “Cia” Price, D-Newport News, is Monday.
Youngkin is not going to sign the bills into law. He vetoed similar legislation last year, using as his excuse that he doesn’t want to “trample on the religious freedoms of Virginians,” which makes no sense.
The bills simply affirm that “a person shall have the right to obtain contraceptives and to engage in contraception” and that the right “shall not be infringed upon by any law, regulation, or policy that expressly or effectively limits, delays, or impedes access to contraceptives or information related to contraception.”
Who’s doing the trampling here?
“With Trump in office, we know that nothing is sacred or respected, and we need to act now to ensure that women will not be pushed backwards into a time when we could not access contraception. That time was not that long ago,” said Del. Katrina Callsen, D-Albemarle.
And a return to that time not long ago might not be far off into the future. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has led the call for the court to “reconsider” the landmark Griswold v. Connecticut ruling that established a constitutional right to contraception that Youngkin claimed, in his veto statement last year, makes the Virginia legislation moot.
“We are here because there is no right that is safe in this second Trump term, including the right to contraception,” said Del. Amy Laufer, D-Albemarle. “Gov. Youngkin and Lt. Gov. Sears are now rubber-stamping all the havoc that the federal administration is causing – from firing our federal servants, shaking the Virginia economy, and freezing hundreds of millions of dollars in contraceptive services for women all around the world. We cannot afford to take any more steps down and back when it comes to reproductive rights. Everyone here knows that, and that’s why we’re here calling for the governor to sign this bill into law.”
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Chris Graham
