Early voting for Virginia's statewide elections kicks off on Friday, and state Democrats continue to hit new lows by misleading on one of their chief issues, abortion.
Mailers paid for by the Democratic Party of Virginia and authorized by Rod Willett, a Democratic delegate who represents the 73rd district, claim that his pro-life Republican opponent, Riley Shaia "is backed and funded by extremists who voted to ban abortion with no exceptions." Top donors indeed include pro-life delegates and candidates, but there is no mention on the mailer as to what the bill in question is. The mailer also addresses gun control, which references House Bill 1288 from 2020, but that does not apply to abortion.
Another mailer claims that "Riley Shaia is an extremist who is funded and endorsed by extremists," going on to mention that, among other things, her supporters voted on such bills "to ban abortion with no exceptions."
State Democrats in Virginia have gotten truly ugly when it comes to their smears on the abortion issue… here’s mailers paid for by the Democratic Party of Virginia that have been authorized by Del. Rodney Willett against his pro-life opponent, Riley Shaia. pic.twitter.com/dCHYGfKnhs
— Rebecca Downs (@RebeccaRoseGold) September 21, 2023
This time, the mailer makes reference to bills from over 10 years ago: House Bill 1440 from 2011 and House Bill 1 from 2012, nearly identical bills sponsored by Del. Robert Marshall, a Republican who represented the 13th district from 1992 until he was defeated by Del. Danica Roem in 2017.
The bill in question refers to "Unborn children; construing the word 'person' under Virginia law to include." A summary notes that the bill "Provides that unborn children at every stage of development enjoy all the rights, privileges, and immunities available to other persons, citizens, and residents of the Commonwealth, subject only to the laws and constitutions of Virginia and the United States, precedentsof the United States Supreme Court, and provisions to the contrary in the statutes of the Commonwealth."
The bill's short text does not mention abortion, and the 2012 version contains two particularly noteworthy provisions:
§ 6. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as creating a cause of action against a woman for indirectly harming her unborn child by failing to properly care for herself or by failing to follow any particular program of prenatal care.
§ 7. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as affecting lawful assisted conception.
Then-Del. Marshall is also quoted in a 2012 piece from The Washington Post saying his bill would not affect abortion:
Marshall said his bill, modeled after legislation in Missouri, would not affect birth control, miscarriages or abortions but would affect the way that courts define a person. For example, parents could receive damages for the death of a fetus in a wrongful death lawsuit.
“To claim using birth control will get you in trouble with this statue is simply false,’’ Marshall said. “It does not have the affect of criminalizing birth control. This does not directly effect abortion.’’
The bills passed the House of Delegates but died in the Virginia state Senate.
Among Shaia's top donors are Dels. Terry Killgore and C. Todd Gilbert, the latter who is now the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. Both voted for the bills. Other donors for Shaia were not yet in the state legislature when Marshall's bills came for a vote.
Another Democrat, Kimberly Pope Adams, is smearing Del. Kim Taylor for her role on the board of Grace Home Ministries, a pro-life resource center "focused on supporting teen mothers through parenthood," while also using fear-mongering about any prospective abortion bans in Virginia.
An ad sponsored by Adams features a woman named Jennifer from Prince Georgia, Virginia, who claims that "if Republicans like Kim Taylor have their way, Virginia will be the next state to pass an extreme abortion ban." Jennifer then goes on to mention that "her family ran and funded a crisis pregnancy center, tricking women into carrying non-viable pregnancies," conflating the two. The ad attacks a center that provides mentorship programs as well as counseling for adoption or parenting. The Richmond Times-Dispatch noted that Grace Home Ministries "is transparent about its mission." No "tricking women" there.
The ad got even more ridiculous from there. "An abortion ban would hurt so many more, putting women and doctors in jail and even could deny care to 10-year-old rape victims. We cannot allow Kim Taylor to ban abortion in Virginia," Jennifer went on to mention.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) is looking to pass a bill limiting abortion to 15-weeks, with explicit exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother. He expressed support for such a bill when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June of last year with its Dobbs v. Jackson decision, and tasked the General Assembly with finding a consensus on the issue. The plan does not seek to punish women for their abortions, but rather the abortionist performing the procedure.
Adams' ad often cites Blue Virginia for proof, which has a clearly stated purpose "to cover Virginia politics from a progressive and Democratic perspective – and to help elect Democrats." There's also a disclaimer on their "About" page regarding how "Blue Virginia 'front pager' authors sometimes consult to Democratic candidates – or even (possibly) run for office themselves."
Another citation comes from an August 10, 2023 article from The Washington Post pertaining to a candidate, John Stirrup, who supports banning abortion without exceptions. Not only is that candidate not Taylor, but Taylor is not mentioned once in the lengthy article. The article also mentioned that Sitrrup "said in a text message to the Post that he does not expect to find support in Richmond for outlawing abortion entirely and that he would push instead to ban the procedure after 15 weeks, with some exceptions."
As Townhall reported at the time for the 2021 House of Delegate races, these attacks on pregnancy resource centers are nothing new. Then Del. Alex Askew, a Democrat representing the 85th district, sent out mailers smearing his opponent, now Del. Karen Greenhalgh, who volunteered at such a center and who herself found support from these centers as a victim of rape.
Not only have state Democrats blocked such legislation, it is they who are the extremists on the abortion issue. They've blocked a 15-week ban, as well as legislation that would mandate providing medical care to babies born alive from abortions. Former Gov. Ralph Northam, Youngkin's Democratic predecessor, infamously spoke about denying such babies medical care in January 2019, but state Democrats more recently blocked such legislation as well.
State Democrats also had tried to bring Virginia in the opposite direction, in that they pushed for a constitutional amendment that would legalize abortion for any point in pregnancy, going even further than Roe v. Wade. "The Commonwealth shall not discriminate in the protection or enforcement of this fundamental right," the amendment read in part.
During a hearing, Del. Rob Bell, a Republican who represents the 58th district, and a staff attorney, discussed and confirmed that under such an amendment it would "not make any distinction between the stage of the pregnancy at which the constitutional amendment would apply" and that "there is no timeframe for when this interest is compelling," referring to the interest under Roe that states had to protect unborn life.
"Whereas the Roe framework and ultimately the [Planned Parenthood v.] Casey modifications did allow for different application at later stages of pregnancy, this would not do that... is that accurate?" Del asked.
The staff attorney confirmed that "this lays out what a compelling state interest is and it is only the protection of the individual seeking the care, so the mother and therefore it does not take into account at all the potentiaility or viability of the fetus through the timeframe."
Bell sought and confirmed once again "if this [constitutional amendment] were to pass, the state interest is defined, and as you say it only, it does not have any balance outside of the mother's interest."
It does not appear that local or statewide outlets have covered such an ugly part of the Virginia 2023 races, other than Blue Virginia, and from a pro-abortion perspective.
Youngkin has been heavily promoting early voting through the Secure Your Vote Virginia initiative, which begins on Friday in the commonwealth ahead of the November 7 election. Republicans are looking to hold onto their majority in the House of Delegates, which they achieved when Youngkin was elected in 2021. They're also looking to regain control of the state Senate.