Voters throughout Virginia are listening to so much in regards to the abortion problem as early voting begins forward of November’s legislative elections.
State Republicans are placing six figures behind new digital advertisements this week that painting Democrats because the occasion of “no limitsThe Republican transfer to assault the problem comes as Democrats are relying on abortion, overturning Roe v. Wade, and the specter of latest restrictions underneath GOP-controlled state authorities, as key to turning out voters in what is often a low-turnout election exterior of the yr.
Republicans have excessive hopes of flipping the Virginia Senate and retaining the state Home of Delegates in November, which might give them full management of state authorities underneath GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Youngkin, searching for a governing majority that will enable him to enact components of his agenda that he struggled to move by a divided Legislature, is main what has change into an enormous funding in state races by tapping right into a nationwide donor community and attending fundraisers from Nantucket. To Dallas.
Abortion has change into a flashpoint, with Democrats campaigning on the truth that a GOP majority would threaten Virginia’s standing because the final state within the South with out important restrictions on abortion rights.
Virginia at the moment permits abortion as much as 26 weeks and 6 days into being pregnant — in the course of the first two trimesters — with exceptions within the third trimester if three medical doctors discover the lady’s well being is in danger. Democrats had been capable of block a number of abortion-related laws from transferring ahead earlier this yr because of their management of the state Senate, together with laws that will have restricted abortion after 15 weeks.
Youngkin, who’s actively campaigning for Republican candidates throughout the state, mentioned he and the candidates he helps imagine the “consensus” stipulates an abortion cap of 15 weeks, with exceptions for rape, incest and saving the lady’s life. the mother.
In his remarks to reporters in Glen Allen, Va., on Monday evening, when requested if he would go additional and help a six-week abortion ban if the state Legislature flips in his occasion’s favor, Youngkin stood agency. “I help a invoice to guard life at 15 weeks,” Youngkin mentioned. “That is what we are going to work for.”
Republicans at the moment are leaning towards Youngkin’s place, hoping that 15 weeks is the benchmark normal election voters will really feel extra snug with after a yr of inauspicious elections for Republicans, lots of which noticed intense Democratic campaigning on abortion. The GOP’s new advert marketing campaign portrays Democrats as extremists on the problem, accusing them of supporting abortion up till the second of delivery.
Democratic state Del. Cathy Tran, who’s operating in Northern Virginia for re-election to the Home of Delegates, is on the heart of those considerations. New digital advertising Produced by the Home of Representatives and State Senate Republican Caucus. “How late within the third trimester can a health care provider carry out an abortion?” Home Speaker Todd Gilbert Tran requested within the advert, together with a video from a 2019 committee listening to. “All the best way to 40 weeks,” Tran mentioned. “I do not assume we’ve a cap within the invoice.”
Tran later He told the Washington Post She “misspoke” when describing her invoice. It didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Democrats, for his or her half, I made an announcement Highlighting abortion bans carried out in states throughout the Southeast, he warned that “MAGA Republicans in Richmond need Virginia to be subsequent.”
New advertisements from Republicans “distract from the truth that they’re stripping folks of a primary proper,” says Jamie Lockhart, government director of Deliberate Parenthood of Virginia, calling a possible 15-week ban within the state “devastating.”
“I do not belief them to cease at week 15,” Lockhart added.
Youngkin units a mark on abortion that differs from different GOP governors who’ve taken a extra restrictive stance on the problem. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban into legislation in April. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who signed the same invoice into legislation within the Hawkeye State, defended DeSantis when former President Donald Trump criticized it as a “horrible mistake” throughout an interview with moderator Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” . “.
“Defending harmless lives isn’t a horrible factor,” Reynolds wrote Tuesday on X, previously Twitter. “I’m happy with the fetal heartbeat invoice that the Iowa Legislature handed and signed into legislation in 2018 and once more earlier this yr.”
Youngkin’s technique in Virginia may set him aside within the GOP subject if he chooses to run for president late — a risk he has not but dominated out.