Virginia could become the next New York now that pro-abortion Democrats have control of the state legislature.
The new legislative session begins Jan. 8, but already Democrat lawmakers have introduced a series of bills to push abortion on demand, The Federalist reports.
One bill would allow underage girls to get secret abortions without their parents’ consent, opening up the doors to abuse. Another would end an informed consent requirement that ensures women are given the chance to see their unborn baby’s ultrasound image prior to the abortion, according to the report.
Other legislation seeks to enact the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which would amend the U.S. Constitution to guarantee equal rights for all born citizens no matter what their sex is. Though the intent seems good on the surface, pro-life leaders long have warned that abortion activists would use the amendment to destroy the limited protections that America provides to unborn babies. Under the amendment, even widely-supported abortion restrictions such as the partial-birth abortion ban and parental consent for minors could be overturned.
Thirty-eight states need to ratify it, and Illinois became the 37th in 2018. The deadline to pass the amendment ended decades ago and several states repealed their ratification votes, but abortion activists are trying to push the amendment forward in Virginia anyway.
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Another pro-abortion Virginia bill would amend the state Constitution to create a legal “right” to abortion access, the report states.
Olivia Gans-Turner, president of the Virginia Society for Human Life and a post-abortive woman herself, told The Federalist that these bills would hurt women by removing basic safety regulations from state law.
“The immediate effect is to put women in harm’s way,” Gans-Turner said. Without informed consent laws, mothers “won’t have a full knowledge of that life that is inside her. As one patient who was considering abortion told us, ‘When I saw the ultrasound I fell in love with my baby.’ We ask ourselves, why is the other side so threatened by a woman falling in love with her baby? What is really going on here?”
Virginia pro-life advocates are meeting the threat by ramping up efforts to help mothers and babies throughout the state.
According to the report:
A new effort, Prolife Action Network of Northern Virginia, or PLAN, mobilized this fall to connect needy families with charitable efforts: adoption agencies, medical opportunities, legal advice, housing, and more. Duplication of resources and lack of communication between service organizations has resulted in missed opportunities to help vulnerable women in the past.
“We’re creating a network to link all of these various programs so we can really see a family’s health not hurt by lacking resources,” Gans-Turner said. “Sometimes it’s a whole families in crisis, out of work with language barriers and literacy barriers, lots of reasons why people often think the only option they have is to have an abortion.”
Last year, as New York passed its radical pro-abortion law, Virginia also considered an extreme pro-abortion bill that would have allowed abortions up to the point of labor, even if there are no physical health problems with the mother or baby. Pro-life Republican lawmakers blocked the bill, sponsored by state Del. Kathy Tran, who won re-election despite her radical pro-abortion agenda. But with pro-abortion Democrats now in control of the state legislature, Tran’s bill may return.
After the November election, Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, noted how pro-abortion groups funneled huge amounts of money into the state.
“Gov. Northam and Del. Tran made it clear where they would like to see Virginia in terms of abortion policy, that is allowing abortion up until birth and, as Northam explained, maybe even after birth,” Mancini said. “While pro-life Virginians rose up to defeat the Tran abortion extremism in committee and to condemn infanticide earlier this year, pro-abortion candidates in the state were helped by a $1.2 million PAC gift from New York billionaire George Soros, including a $350,000 check to Planned Parenthood Virginia.”
Pro-abortion groups vastly outspend pro-life organizations on elections. According to the Pacific Standard, groups lobbying on behalf of the billion-dollar abortion industry have spent as much as 900 percent more than pro-life groups in elections going back to 1990.
ACTION: Contact the Vurginia legislature to OPPOSE these bills.
