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At Least 6,500 Marched On State Capitol Against Democrat’s Late-Term Abortion Bill

As legislators convened in Richmond for the General Assembly’s one-day session to consider the governor’s vetos on Wednesday, thousands marched on the Capitol against the failed Democrat-led legislation that would have repealed any meaningful restrictions on late-term abortions. Capitol Police estimated that 6,500 were in attendance to protest the bill carried by Delegate Kathy Tran (D-Fairfax) and Governor Ralph Northam’s (D) subsequent “infanticide” comments.

The “Virginia March for Life,” the largest pro-life demonstration at the statehouse in recent memory, was organized by a partnership between The Family Foundation, Virginia Catholic Conference, the Virginia Society for Human Life, and the national March for Life.

As thousands stood outside the statehouse, a few dozen members of the House and Senate Republican caucuses made an appearance on the steps of the Capitol, with some giving a few, short remarks that were met with loud, complimentary roars from the crowd.

“There’s not a more important issue that I’ve deal with in my career in the legislature than life,” said House Speaker Kirk Cox, (R-Colonial Heights), who was welcomed with chants of “Thank you!”

Earlier in the day, Democrats held their own pro-abortion rally which featured Catholics for Choice, NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, women who have proudly had abortions, and other abortion advocates. The meeting dubbed “Speak Out for Abortion Access” had just an estimated 60 people in attendance, showing a stark contrast compared to the thousands who came out to reject doing away with all protections for the unborn, even situations wherein an child born after a failed abortion attempt could face death.

“We believe that all people should have the ability to make our own personal reproductive health care decisions,” said Senate Jennifer Boysko (D-Fairfax), according to a report from the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “I promise you that I will stand up and fight every day as a proud pro-choice state senator…and I will not stop until all of your voices are heard and all of us have reproductive freedom.”

The nationwide backlash started after the “Repeal Act,” introduced as H.B. 2491 by Delegate Kathy Tran (D-Springfield), was set to repeal restrictions on third trimester abortions, allow abortion doctors to self-certify the necessity of late-term procedures, eliminate informed consent requirements, repeal abortion clinic health and safety standards, permit late-term abortions to be performed in outpatient clinics, remove ultrasound requirements, and eliminate Virginia’s 24-hour waiting period.

During her presentation of the bill in a House subcommittee, Delegate Tran said abortions would be carried out “through the third trimester.” She added that “the third trimester goes all the way up to forty weeks.”

Delegate Tran also clarified that abortion procedures would be allowed up until the end of a woman’s pregnancy.

“I don’t think we have a limit in the bill,” she added.

In response to a question from House Majority Leader Gilbert (R-Shenandoah), the subcommittee’s chairman, Delegate Tran also suggested that partial-birth abortions would be subject to the bill’s repeal of existing restrictions on the procedure.

“Where it’s obvious that a woman is about to give birth, that she has physical signs that she is about to give birth, would that still be a point at which she could request an abortion if she was so certified?” Gilbert asked.

“She’s dilating,” he continued. “I’m asking if your bill allows that.”

“My bill would allow that, yes,” Tran affirmed.

Comments surrounding the bill became far more menacing in the days following when Governor Northam, during an address on WTOP’s “Ask The Governor” segment, said the response to Tran’s bill was “blown out of proportion.”

Explaining a potential situation the bill would influence, he said the following:

“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

In the two months since the bill was presented, pro-life advocates across the nation have become outraged, and multiple marches and rallies have set their sights on Virginia. In his “State of the Union” address, President Donald Trump even slammed Northam’s comments, reiterating that he would work to ensure protections for the unborn.

“To defend the dignity of every person,” President Trump charged lawmakers, “I am asking Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother’s womb.”

Although the “infanticide bill” was not expected to pass during this year’s session, it represents a progressive policy vision embraced by the leaders of Virginia’s Democratic Party, including Governor Northam, Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax (D), and Attorney General Mark Herring (D). Democrats have also reiterated that the aforementioned bill would become a priority if they regain majority in the General Assembly – just over seven months away from the 2019 statewide elections.

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March Jobs Report Shows 196,000 Created, Unemployment Rate Remains At 3.8 Percent

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently reported that the total non-farm payroll increased by 196,000 jobs in March, with the months of January and February revised up by a combined 14,000, leading to the average monthly job gain over the course of 2019 sitting at 180,000 per month. The national unemployment rate also remained unchanged at 3.8 percent, after changing between 4.1 at the highest and 3.7 at lowest over the past 12 months.

Among the nation’s industries, the biggest changes in employment sectors in March were:

Healthcare: +49,000

Professional and Technical Services: +34,000

Food and Beverage Services: +27,000

Manufacturing: -6,000

Employment in other major industries, including mining, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information technology, financial services, and government showed little change over the month.

The report from the BLS shows that among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates were:

Adult Men: 3.6 percent

Adult Women: 3.3 percent

Teenagers: 12.8 percent

Caucasians: 3.4 percent

African-Americans: 6.7 percent

Asians: 3.1 percent

Hispanics: 4.7 percent

In March, the number of long-term unemployed, those who have remained jobless for 27 weeks or more, was essentially unchanged at 1.3 million and accounted for 21.1 percent of the unemployed.

The labor force participation rate, at 63 percent, was little changed over the month and has shown little movement over the past 12 months.
The employment-population ratio was 60.6 percent in March and has been either 60.6 percent or 60.7 percent since October 2018.

The average workweek for all employees on non-farm payrolls increased by 0.1 hour to 34.5 hours in March, offsetting a decline of 0.1 hour in February.

Average hourly earnings also benefited in March. Non-farm payrolls increased by four cents to $27.70, following a 10-cent gain in February. Over the course of the last 12 months, average hourly earnings in non-farm positions have increased by 3.2 percent.

The Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow economic forecasting model shows that U.S. gross domestic product growth for the remainder of the first financial quarter currently sits at 2.1 percent.

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McAuliffe Says He Now Supports Virginia’s Controversial Late-Term Abortion Bill

Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) has now flip-flopped his position on a highly controversial late-term abortion bill that was sponsored by a majority of Democrats during this year’s General Assembly session. McAuliffe called the legislation a “common sense bill” after distancing himself from it just one month ago.

H.B. 2491, introduced by Delegate Kathy Tran (D-Springfield), would repeal restrictions on third trimester abortions, allowing abortion doctors to self-certify the necessity of late-term procedures, eliminate informed consent requirements, repeal abortion clinic health and safety standards, permit late-term abortions to be performed in outpatient clinics, remove ultrasound requirements, and eliminate Virginia’s 24-hour waiting period.

During her presentation of the bill in a House subcommittee, Delegate Tran said third trimester abortions would face substantially fewer restrictions.

“How late in the third trimester could a physician perform an abortion if he indicated it would impair the mental health of the woman,” subcommittee Chairman Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) asked.

“Through the third trimester,” Tran responded. “The third trimester goes all the way up to forty weeks.”

Delegate Tran also clarified that abortion procedures would be allowed up until the end of a woman’s pregnancy.

“I don’t think we have a limit in the bill,” she added.

In response to a question from House Majority Leader Gilbert, Tran also suggested that partial-birth abortions would be subject to the bill’s repeal of existing restrictions on the procedure.

“Where it’s obvious that a woman is about to give birth, that she has physical signs that she is about to give birth, would that still be a point at which she could request an abortion if she was so certified?” Gilbert asked.

“She’s dilating,” he continued. “I’m asking if your bill allows that.”

“My bill would allow that, yes,” Tran affirmed.

Upon further questioning, Delegate Tran explicitly addressed the hypothetical case of aborting a healthy infant, one week before the mother’s due date, on grounds of mental health.

“I certainly could have said a week from her due date and that would have been the same answer, correct?” Gilbert continued.

“That it’s allowed in the bill? Yes,” Tran said.

54 percent – a majority – of Democratic lawmakers sponsored Delegate Tran’s late-term abortion bill, in addition to Governor Northam, Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax (D), and Attorney General Mark Herring (D).

Just days after the bill garnered nationwide attention, McAuliffe appeared on CNN stating that he would “absolutely not” support it when asked by host Jake Tapper.

“Where we come from, it’s ‘life of the mother’ in the last trimester,” said McAuliffe.

“I do not support that legislation, nor does Ralph [Northam],” he continued, falsely stating that Governor Northam did not support Tran’s “Repeal Act.”

However, the former governor backtracked on his views during a Monday interview on the “John Fredericks Show.”

McAuliffe explained that the bill was not completely focused on expanding abortion access throughout an entire pregnancy, but rather that it sought to change the Virginia requirement stating that women must get the approval of three doctors before pursuing a late-term abortion.

“This is very important. This is when stuff gets caught up in the political grinder,” McAuliffe said in reference to the outrage that ensued after Delegate Tran presented the bill and Governor Northam supported it the following day, also alluding to the support of infanticide.

During a morning address on WTOP’s “Ask The Governor” after the controversial bill was presented, Northam commented on the situation by saying the widespread reaction to the bill was “blown out of proportion.”

“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” the governor responded when asked about the legislation. Upon further questioning, he described a potential scenario if the bill were to be passed by the state legislature.

“The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother,” Northam added, implying that the physician and mother would discuss whether the newly-born child should either live or die.

In his interview on the “John Fredericks Show,” McAuliffe doubled down in his support for the abortion bill, explaining that disputing bills like Delegate Tran’s will hurt the Commonwealth’s attractiveness to women in positions of power.

“Any time you get in these discussions, it’s not helpful,” he said, adding that “this was a common-sense bill.”

 

Featured News

House Democrats Refuse Bipartisan Hearing For Sexual Assault Survivors In Reconvened Session

During the Virginia General Assembly’s reconvened session on Wednesday, a Republican lawmaker in the House of Delegates made a final push to convince House Democrats to grant the two women accusing Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax (D) of sexual assault and rape a bipartisan legislative hearing. The move came just days after Dr. Vanessa Tyson and Meredith Wilson gave heart-wrenching accounts of their incidents with Fairfax in nationally-televised interviews.

Both women have repeatedly requested both sides of the aisle in the statehouse to simply listen to their stories. However, Democrats have blocked every single proposal.

House Republicans have worked since February towards a bipartisan plan of action to give the two accusers an opportunity for a hearing, which would also grant due process to Fairfax. House Speaker Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) explained that the legislature was set to “establish a bipartisan subcommittee of the House Courts Committee with an equal number of members from both parties.”

Chairman of the House Courts of Justice Committee Rob Bell (R-Albemarle) sent a letter to House Minority Leader Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax), which set specific parameters for the bipartisan hearing. In her letter back to Delegate Bell, Delegate Filler-Corn stated the Democratic Party is “concerned that enacting the plan that you [Delegate Bell] have proposed would establish an ill-defined precedent for the future, which could be abused,” deferring to pursue a “third party entity” to conduct the hearing.

In a statement, Speaker Cox said, “There should be no mistake about what has happened here: the alleged victims are seeking a bipartisan hearing; Republicans are seeking a bipartisan hearing; Democrats in the House of Delegates are refusing to allow that to happen.”

When the House met in Richmond on Wednesday, Delegate Bell offered to convene an emergency Courts of Justice Committee meeting to listen to any path forward proposed by Democrats.

“They want a chance to be heard,” Bell said of Tyson and Watson. “If there is anything you would say yes to, then let’s do it,” he added, offering for the committee to meet just minutes after a recess.

“Don’t let this day end. We can make this happen, just say yes,” he pleaded.

Regardless, House Democrats refused.

“This is good news for Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, but a bad day for sexual assault survivors who simply want their chance to be heard,” said Delegate Bell.