Virginians are clear: abortion rights are both popular and motivating.
- An overwhelming 71% of Virginians support protecting abortion access.
- This year’s Democratic primaries in Virginia made it very clear, “abortion is still the motivating issue for Democrats and non-affiliated voters.” [The Messenger, 7/6/23]
- Primaries focused on abortion, like Lashrecse Aird’s and Amy Laufer’s, were a clear indication that abortion would “continue to be top of mind for voters heading into the fall as they decide control of both chambers of the state legislature in a key swing state.” [Vox, 6/21/23]
EMILYs List has endorsed 29 Democratic pro-choice women who are ready to defend reproductive health care against Republicans who are promising an abortion ban.
- Some of the most competitive races in the Commonwealth feature candidates like former CIA officer and prosecutor Russet Perry, running against Juan Pablo Segura, who supports a new ban on abortion and has aligned himself with the most extreme figures in the anti-choice movement – including those who would ban birth control.
- State Del. Danica Roem is running against an anti-transgender, anti-choice extremist in Bill Woolf. Woolf supports an abortion ban.
- Kimberly Pope Adams is running against Kim Taylor, who supports an abortion ban and has used her business to sponsor and host fundraisers for a so-called crisis pregnancy center in her district that misleads women seeking reproductive health care.
- Karen Jenkins, a mental health care professional, is running against Baxter Ennis, an election conspiracy theorist who has pledged to support an abortion ban.
- Lily Franklin is running to be a voice for rural Virginians against anti-abortion extremist Chris Obenshain, who is “aligned with his cousin Mark Obenshain, who introduced a bill in the Virginia Senate in 2009 ‘that would have required a woman to report her miscarriage to the police within 24 hours of it happening or risk jail time.’” [Vanity Fair, 8/31/23]
Make no mistake: Republican candidates will force an abortion ban on Virginians.
- Gov. Glenn Youngkin has pledged to “gleefully” sign any abortion ban into law.
- If Republicans are successful in their attempts to create a Republican trifecta with their MAGA extremist candidates, they will elect radical leaders in both chambers of the legislature.
- Given their extreme records, it’s clear leading Republicans, including House Speaker Todd Gilbert and Lt. Gov. and President of the Senate Winsome Earle-Sears, would put forth the most restrictive abortion bans possible.
- Todd Gilbert has referred to abortion as a “lifestyle convenience” and supports so-called fetal personhood, which would threaten access to basic contraception.
- Winsome Earle-Sears has said she would support a Texas-style abortion ban in Virginia.
The Bottom Line: EMILYs List-endorsed candidates are the front line to defend abortion rights in Virginia. If a politician believes they have the right to decide the when, where, or how of whether a woman is able to access health care, they must be stopped.
