New laws took effect in Virginia on Friday, including high-profile legislation like the Fiscal Year …
Sponsor of 40 Week Abortion Bill Rumored as Replacement for Lt. Gov. Fairfax
State Senator Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond), who sponsored legislation repealing restrictions on third trimester abortions, might become the next Lieutenant Governor of Virginia.
The rumors appeared yesterday afternoon, after a second accuser against Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax came forward, claiming the embattled Democratic leader raped her in 2000, while they were both students at Duke University. That revelation triggered Democratic calls for resignation, swiftly followed by plans to introduce articles of impeachment on Monday.
With Fairfax’s political survival seeming unlikely, Democrats have begun floating potential replacements. One name frequently heard in the halls of Richmond and on Twitter is that of Senator Jennifer McClellan, who served eleven years in the House of Delegates before winning election to the Senate in 2017.
Democrats say McClellan could help lead the Democratic Party out of a period of scandal and turmoil, even though she faces controversy of her own for sponsoring SB1451, the Senate version of the late-term abortion legislation which initiated the leadership crisis now enveloping Richmond.
The cycle of political fallout began with public backlash over Delegate Kathy Tran’s (D-Springfield) failed 40 week late term abortion bill, which touched off national controversy over a viral video of her committee testimony, followed by highly criticized remarks on the bill by Governor Northam.
McClellan carried an identical measure in the Senate, which failed on a party line vote weeks before its companion in the House.
The abortion bill proved too extreme for some pro-choice Democrats, including former Governor Terry McAuliffe and US Senator Tim Kaine.
Outraged by the governor’s remarks, one of his classmates from medical school tipped off a reporter about a racist photograph on Northam’s yearbook page, which featured a man in blackface appearing next to another dressed in full Ku Klux Klan robes. Northam briefly admitted to appearing in the photograph, before reversing course and saying it wasn’t him.
Following the revelation, accusations of rape and sexual assault surfaced against Fairfax, prompting his suggestion that fellow Democrats leaked the story to protect Governor Northam or clear a path for Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney to assume the Lt. Governor’s post.
Days later, rumors of a racist photo of Attorney General Mark Herring prompted the second-in-line office holder to issue a statement admitting to wearing blackface in college.
Then, on Friday, a second accuser against Fairfax came forward, leading to waves of calls for resignation followed by plans by Democrats to introduce articles of impeachment on Monday.
If McClellan should secure Northam’s appointment, it would leave the position on Democratic leadership’s support of the bill unchanged.
A majority of Democrats in the General Assembly co-sponsored the legislation, though one, Delegate Dawn Adams (D-Henrico), subsequently expressed regret for signing on to a bill she said she didn’t read.
McClellan spoke about the bill at the press conference in which Northam announced his support, appearing alongside Tran.
“Unfortunately, today, about an hour ago, the Senate version of the Repeal Act died on a party line vote,” said McClellan. “So, we continue to fight, and we will be back next year to make sure that the Repeal Act passes.”
So far, the speculation over McClellan’s potential ascent has proven credible, prompting serious discussion by notable observers of Virginia politics.
“I’m not advocating for anyone but politically, you can argue the choice should be: squeaky clean + woman + person of color,” pondered Sabato, speaking to the optics of the decision facing Governor Ralph Northam, who remains embroiled in controversy over a racist photo on his college yearbook’s page.
“Say, Jennifer McClellan, an #Rva senator?” wondered Jeff Schapiro, a columnist with the Richmond Times-Dispatch who follows the inner workings of the General Assembly.
With the scandal moving quickly, the embattled Fairfax may choose to resign rather than face impeachment on Monday, even though he ruled out resignation in his response to the second accusation.
A potential McClellan appointment would be on an interim basis, with a special election to be called for November.
“That arrangement would likely be short-lived, because the governor has ‘constitutional authority to fill the vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor,’ said A.E. Dick Howard, a law professor at the University of Virginia who led the drafting of Virginia’s current state constitution in the late 1960s and early 1970s,” reported Politico, covering potential succession scenarios.
Even on an interim basis, McClellan serving as an appointed lieutenant governor would give her a substantial boost in securing the Democratic nomination for November.
Regardless of Fairfax’s decision, the turmoil at the capitol shows no signs of abating.
List of Lawmakers Sponsoring Tran’s Controversial Abortion-Until-Birth Bill
54% of Democratic lawmakers sponsored Kathy Tran’s late term abortion bill, in addition to Governor Ralph Northam, Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax, and Attorney General Mark Herring. The bill is supported by a majority of Virginia Democrats. Here’s the list.
Third Trimester Late Term Abortion Bill Backed by Northam, Fairfax, Herring, Democratic Legislators
On Thursday in Richmond, Democratic leaders announced their support for a sweeping repeal of abortion restrictions in Virginia, including deregulation of third trimester late term abortions up until the moment of birth. The press conference, attended by Governor Ralph Northam, Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, Attorney General Mark Herring, and a host of Democratic lawmakers, touted two pieces of legislation filed by Democratic lawmakers, the Repeal Act and the Reproductive Freedom Act.
The Repeal Act, introduced as HB2491 by Delegate Kathy Tran (D-Springfield), would repeal restrictions on third trimester abortions, allow abortionists to self-certify the necessity of the procedures, eliminate informed consent requirements, repeal health and safety standards for abortion clinics, allow late term abortions to be performed in outpatient clinics, waive ultrasound requirements, and eliminate the 24 hour waiting period for abortions in Virginia, among other provisions.
“I introduced House bill 2491, the repeal law, to lift medically unnecessary and unduly burdensome requirements for women to access abortions in the Commonwealth,” said Tran.
“This bill removes hospital requirements on clinics and providers, laws that mandate informed consent, a combination of mandatory ultrasounds, biased literature, and the 24 hour waiting period, and additional doctor requirements for late term abortions,” Tran continued, describing the provisions of the bill.
Third trimester abortions remain highly unpopular with voters, with just 13% saying the procedure should “generally be legal”, according to nonpartisan polling conducted by Gallup, which noted that trimesters were “still key to U.S. abortion views.”
The Reproductive Freedom Act, introduced by Delegate Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria) as HB2369 in the House, and by Jennifer Boysko (D-Herndon) as SB1637 in the Senate, would establish a “fundamental right” to abortion in the Code of Virginia, prohibiting the Commonwealth from enacting restrictions on abortions, including late term procedures in the third trimester of pregnancy. The measure was backed by Governor Northam during his annual State of the Commonwealth address, in which the governor also called for higher spending, sweeping gun control, and a repeal of Virginia’s law requiring voters show photo ID at the polls.
The Democratic leaders were joined by Amy Hagstrom Miller, President and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, a chain of abortion clinics currently operating in six states, including one location in Charlottesville, Virginia. Miller’s abortion business was the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which overturned certain restrictions applicable to abortion clinics.
“We provide fabulous abortion care and we fight the draconian abortion regulations and restrictions,” said Miller. “As abortion providers, we believe that everybody deserves dignity, deserves respect, and that our patients should be at the center of their own health care decisions.”
“That’s why we fight harmful anti-abortion laws, and that’s why we support legislation like this,” continued Miller, saying that passage of the Repeal Act was the “first step” in the fight to expand abortion in Virginia.
An hour before the press conference, lawmakers defeated the Senate’s version of the Repeal Act in the Committee on Education and Health, introduced by Senator Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond), on a party line vote, with seven Democrats in support and eight Republicans in opposition.
“So, we continue to fight, and we will be back next year to make sure that the Repeal Act passes,” said McClellan.
At the same committee hearing, Boysko’s Reproductive Freedom Act was also defeated on a party line vote.
Boysko, a former board member of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia and staunch abortion advocate, said she was disappointed by the failure of her bill.
Following the defeat of the Senate bills, and foreshadowing the likely defeat of the measures in the House this year, Northam, Fairfax, and Herring said it was necessary to elect Democratic majorities in November to repeal restrictions on abortion next session.
“So when can’t change peoples minds, we need to change seats,” said Governor Northam, speaking to the upcoming November elections.
Northam, who is a doctor, worked as a pediatric neurologist prior to being elected governor.
Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, a strong supporter of abortion, echoed the governor’s electoral sentiments.
“Though we had some setbacks today in committee around this legislation, please be on notice that when we come back for our next General Assembly session, it will be a very different outcome, because we will have more allies in the House and the Senate,” added Fairfax, who formerly served as a board member of the Planned Parenthood Metropolitan Washington Action Fund.
“I will continue to bang that gavel for progress,” said Fairfax.
Vowing to be a “brick wall” against restrictions on abortion, Attorney General Mark Herring also called on Virginians to elect a pro-choice Democratic majority, while also noting his work as Attorney General fighting against a twenty-week abortion ban and working to protect funding for Planned Parenthood.
“In 2017, Virginia elected three pro-choice, statewide, state elected officials, fifteen new pro-choice delegates, and this past election, elected three pro-choice congresswomen,” added Herring.
“We need a pro-choice majority in the General Assembly,” Herring continued.
During the 2016-2017 statewide campaign cycle, abortion advocates contributed heavily to Democratic campaigns in hopes of repealing abortion restrictions, donating a combined total of $4,871,584 directly and in-kind to pro-abortion politicians, according to campaign finance reports compiled by VPAP.
While that investment helped elect Democrats to the offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General, it stopped short of capturing legislative majorities in the House of Delegates and the state Senate, where Republicans held on to narrow majorities of 51-49 and 21-19, respectively.
Though the rollback of abortion regulations is unlikely to pass this year, due to opposition from Republican lawmakers, that could change following November’s elections.
Watch highlights from the press conference below, in longer form than the summary above.
Stanley To Lead Senate Subcommittee To Fix Crumbling Schools
One of the biggest topics spoken throughout Virginia’s capital city is the state of Richmond …