Abortion

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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.”

 

Richmond’s ‘Day Of Mourning’ To Show Solidarity Against Gov. Northam’s ‘Infanticide’ Comments

Over one month removed from Virginia Governor Ralph Northam‘s (D) highly controversial radio show comments regarding “infanticide,” a grassroots organization of pro-lifers is planning to voice their disgust and convene in the state capital of Richmond on April 6th for a “Day of Mourning.” Virginia pastors are also invited to join the event’s speakers to “repent for the church’s 46 years of silence and apathy.”

Governor Northam doubled down on his support for Delegate Kathy Tran’s (D-Fairfax) sweeping late-term abortion bill during the 2019 legislative session, just after a similar situation occurred in New York. Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) signed a bill into law to allow women to seek abortions after a fetus is 24 weeks old if the mother’s life or health is threatened by the pregnancy, also making it legal for women to have an abortion at any time if the fetus is not viable.

Following the development in New York, the spire atop New York City’s Freedom Tower, standing 1,776 feet above the ground, was lit bright pink in solidarity with the activists and lawmakers who helped push the monumental change.

The abortion bill supported by a majority of Virginia Democrats, however, goes even further. Delegate Tran, in her presentation to a House of Delegates subcommittee, was asked:

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

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

The legislation, also known as the “Repeal Act,” would do away with 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.

Days later, during an address on WTOP’s “Ask The Governor” segment, Northam commented on a situation that the bill would influence.

“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” he said. “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.”

Conservatives across the Commonwealth and the nation at-large quickly condemned Northam’s rhetoric, charging that he “supports infanticide.” The governor’s comments even got a mention during President Donald Trump‘s “State of the Union” address in late January, with the commander in chief charging lawmakers “to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother’s womb.”

According to the event’s Facebook page, pro-life advocates will meet at the Greater Richmond Convention Center in downtown at 403 North 3rd Street on Saturday, April 6, between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., where they expect thousands to be in attendance to “stand in solidarity with the unborn and mourn over the sin of abortion.”

“We are calling for a National Day of Mourning and repentance,” the group’s organizer says on the page. “We are in desperate need for God to move upon the hearts of young and old in our nation. If our hearts do not break over the killing of these little image bearers of God in the womb, we are dead inside!”

Organizers are asking attendees to do three things:

  1. Wear black
  2. Fast and pray
  3. Repent for the sin of abortion

Some of the speakers set to appear at the event are: authors and entrepreneurs Jason and David Benham; the “Activist Mommy” Elizabeth Johnston; former statewide Republican candidate and Bishop E. W. Jackson; eight-year-old abortion survivor Blythe Mullen; and Dallas, Texas-based singer, songwriter, and worship leader Anna Byrd.

Three weeks ago, over 4,000 people attended the group’s event in Albany, New York, with 40,000 more watching via livestream.

Virginia Senators Tim Kaine, Mark Warner Join Democrats Turning Blind Eye To Infanticide

The vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act compelled lawmakers to defend the indefensible, put names to those disregarding life, revealed the sanctimonious nature of the Democratic Party, and codified the consistent logical and philosophical irregularities of the dehumanization and political categorization that governs the liberal point of view. 

Proposed House Rules Change is ‘Proxy Fight for Unrestricted Access to Abortion’ Says Del. Scott Garrett

With a rules fight looming in Virginia’s House of Delegates, one lawmaker took to the floor on Monday to push back against an effort which he called a “proxy fight for unrestricted access to abortion.”

Delegate Scott Garrett (R-Lynchburg), rose against a Friday effort championed by colleague Hala Ayala (D-Woodbridge) to change chamber rules and revive a failed measure hailed by abortion advocates to require taxpayer funding for unrestricted access to taxpayer funded abortion.

Ayala’s effort to suspend the rules and advance the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the floor, following its repeated failures in committee, would constitute an unprecedented effort to discharge the committee system under which the chamber operates, targeted towards one specific measure.

We already know, Mr. Speaker, that the 14th Amendment the United States Constitution applies the equal protection of the laws to all people regardless of sex,” said Garrett. “What could this additional amendment really be about, Mr. Speaker?”

The next few days will give us the opportunity to answer that question by saying out loud what this has been about all along: a proxy fight on unrestricted access to abortion. I think we’re all well aware of the shock and outrage that emerged not only across the Commonwealth but across the country, after the details of House bill 2491 became widely known. That legislation, Mr. Speaker, erased all meaningful restrictions on late term abortion, allowing abortion up to the moment of birth for the most tenuous of reasons.”

Referencing HB2491, the controversial 40 week abortion bill filed by Delegate Kathy Tran (D-Springfield), which ultimately failed, Garrett warned that the provisions of the bill could be mandated by the courts if the ERA were to be enacted.

Garrett cited three court cases where state-level provisions similar to the ERA were used by courts to overturn abortion restrictions.

In a case out of Texas from 2001, Art. I, § 3a of the state’s constitution was used to overturn restrictions on taxpayer funding for abortion. Previously, Texas law limited state funded abortion services to cases involving rape, incest, or a threat to the life of the mother. Under this language, courts ruled that restriction, one supported by most Americans, to be invalid.

Garrett also cited a case from Connecticut, in which Art. I, § 20 of the state’s constitution was as the basis for ruling state restrictions on abortion invalid.

In a third case he referenced, from New Mexico, N.M. Right to Choose/NARAL, Abortion & Reprod. Health Servs., Planned Parenthood of the Rio Grande v. Johnson (126 N. M. 788), the Supreme Court of New Mexico ruled that the state constitution required taxpayer funding for elective abortion, on account of language nearly identical to the proposed ERA (Art. II, § 18).

“Based on the independent grounds provided by the Equal Rights Amendment to Article II, Section 18 of the New Mexico Constitution, we affirm the district court’s orders granting Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, permanently enjoining the Department from enforcing its May 1995 revision of Rule 766, and awarding costs to Plaintiffs,” ruled the court.

These cases predate a ruling handed down in Alaska this week following a similar pattern.

“Brought by Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, the lawsuit argued that the regulations violated the equal protection clause of Alaska’s constitution by discriminating against women choosing to have an abortion,” reported Jurist.org, a legal research collaboration affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh.

“Under the contested law, abortions would only be covered under Medicaid though additional requirements. The 2013 regulation, 7 AAC 160.900(d)(30), required a physician to certify an abortion only for circumstances permitted under the Hyde Amendment or if deemed medically necessary. The Hyde Amendment only allows federal funding for an abortion when the mother’s life is endangered by a full-term pregnancy term or the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.”

Ayala’s rules change effort comes on the heels of a Democratic push to loosen restrictions on abortion as a major plank of the party’s campaign efforts for the fall elections.

Abortion first became an issue in the 2019 campaign cycle when Democratic leaders, including Governor Ralph Northam, Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, and Attorney General Mark Herring held a press conference with over a dozen lawmakers, announcing that Tran’s Repeal Act would be a “priority” on the campaign trail.

In that announcement, Northam and other Democrats looked forward to a Democratic majority in the House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia which would pass the legislation and send it to his desk for approval.

“So when can’t change peoples minds, we need to change seats,” said Northam.

“We need a pro-choice majority in the General Assembly,” added Herring.

That event, held on January 17th, predated Tran’s now-infamous committee testimony by eleven days.

The Repeal Act enjoys strong support from Democratic lawmakers, having received the sponsorship of a majority of Democratic members in the General Assembly.

When introduced, 54% of them signed on as sponsors, though that number fell to 51% after Delegate Dawn Adams (D-Henrico) withdrew her sponsorship following the backlash, telling constituents in an email that she failed to read the bill.

Last Friday, the deadline for withdrawing sponsorship passed. 34 Democrats remained active sponsors of the failed legislation.

With abortion now a top issue for the fall, Ayala’s unprecedented push to bypass the House’s committee system through a rules change represents the last opportunity for Democrats to deliver a legislative victory for pro-abortion voters.

Republicans have pledged to fight the attempt, disagreeing both with the underlying policy and what they called an “affront” to the rules targeted at one specific legislative measure.

In closing, Garrett remarked that everyone in the chamber would support ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment were it not for the provision expanding taxpayer funded late term abortion.

So in in closing, Mr. Speaker, let me be clear on one thing: if this amendment before us were just about equality, and its advocates could prove that it would not do exactly what the courts have already found it does, then I would be the first person to vote for it because I have a wife and a daughter, and I believe they deserve the same rights and respect that all people should receive,” he said. “And I believe you would not find a single dissenting vote in this house were that the case.”

“But Mr. Speaker, I wholeheartedly believe that this is not what this amendment is about.”

Garrett concluded by urging the measure’s defeat.