Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced on Good Friday that he signed into law a bill his new Democrat majority rushed to approve, one that repeals most restrictions on abortion in the state.
Northam minimized the extremity of the Reproductive Health Protection Act, referring in a press release to the restrictions on abortion that are now repealed as “anti-women’s health laws.”
“No more will legislators in Richmond—most of whom are men—be telling women what they should and should not be doing with their bodies,” Northam said in an accompanying statement. “The Reproductive Health Protection Act will make women and families safer, and I’m proud to sign it into law.”
Pope Backfire: Trump’s Support Among Catholics Went Up After Trump Fired Back at Pope Leo
Ilhan Omar Husband’s Winery Suspiciously Shutters After Investigation Is Launched Into Her Finances
FLASHBACK: Obama tried to make Trump a punchline at 2011 dinner before rise stunned Washington
Trump cancels Witkoff and Kushner’s trip to Pakistan for Iran negotiations
U.S. Government Monitors as British Authorities Prosecute Christian Pastor Who Quoted John 3:16
Fetterman backs Wicker’s call to restart attacks in Iran
Trump to headline 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner for the first time as president
Rat Poison Found in Baby Food Jars Leads to Total Recall
Barricaded suspect faces murder charges after 2 doctoral students vanished from campus, 1 body remains missing
Father recalls horror after son murdered his 5 grandchildren: ‘I knew he killed them’
My Brother’s Teacher Told Him to ‘Draw What Brings You Most Joy’: Since His Answer Was the Cross, It Wasn’t Allowed
Parents in Bronx neighborhood plead for NYPD guard as Mamdani cuts cops, halts hires: ‘Horrible situation’
British Christian Nurse Accused of ‘Misgendering’ a Patient Cleared of Consequences
Radical activist groups circle wagons around Southern Poverty Law Center amid federal charges
US turns to drones after retiring minesweepers to reopen Strait of Hormuz amid Iran crisis
Medical decisions should be between a woman and her health care providers. I am so glad to see this bill become law here in Virginia, thank you @JennMcClellanVA for leading this charge with me!https://t.co/KGk3rd28At
— Charniele Herring (@C_Herring) April 10, 2020
Today, @GovernorVA signed the Virginia Reproductive Health Protection Act to remove onerous restrictions on a woman’s ability to access abortion care. Proud to have led the charge with @C_Herring on this historic measure.https://t.co/3SDcmJH6ng
— Jennifer McClellan (@JennMcClellanVA) April 10, 2020
Senate Bill 733 and House Bill 980, which are identical pieces of legislation, rescind the required 24-hour waiting period, ultrasound, and counseling prior to having an abortion.
In addition, the measures allow non-physicians to perform abortions and roll back building safety standards in abortion clinics that are required of other outpatient facilities, restrictions Northam and Democrats say are used to force closures of abortion facilities and block access to the procedure.
Democrats said all of the abortion restrictions are unnecessary and make access to abortion more burdensome.
Catherine Glenn Foster, president & CEO of Americans United for Life (AUL), referred to the legislation as “horribly destructive,” and one that “will undermine the role of law to protect and guide.”
Pope Backfire: Trump’s Support Among Catholics Went Up After Trump Fired Back at Pope Leo
Ilhan Omar Husband’s Winery Suspiciously Shutters After Investigation Is Launched Into Her Finances
FLASHBACK: Obama tried to make Trump a punchline at 2011 dinner before rise stunned Washington
Trump cancels Witkoff and Kushner’s trip to Pakistan for Iran negotiations
U.S. Government Monitors as British Authorities Prosecute Christian Pastor Who Quoted John 3:16
Fetterman backs Wicker’s call to restart attacks in Iran
Trump to headline 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner for the first time as president
Rat Poison Found in Baby Food Jars Leads to Total Recall
Barricaded suspect faces murder charges after 2 doctoral students vanished from campus, 1 body remains missing
Father recalls horror after son murdered his 5 grandchildren: ‘I knew he killed them’
My Brother’s Teacher Told Him to ‘Draw What Brings You Most Joy’: Since His Answer Was the Cross, It Wasn’t Allowed
Parents in Bronx neighborhood plead for NYPD guard as Mamdani cuts cops, halts hires: ‘Horrible situation’
British Christian Nurse Accused of ‘Misgendering’ a Patient Cleared of Consequences
Radical activist groups circle wagons around Southern Poverty Law Center amid federal charges
US turns to drones after retiring minesweepers to reopen Strait of Hormuz amid Iran crisis
Foster said in a statement sent to Breitbart News:
This bill lowers the basic, common sense health and safety standards that abortion facilities must meet, degrades women’s care, and will result in unsafe abortionists operating with even more impunity.
The bill eliminates reflection periods for women seeking an abortion while denying vulnerable women the full truth on what abortion means, what abortion is, and what abortion does.
The most heartbreaking part of this travesty to me personally is its repeal of the lifesaving ultrasound requirement in Virginia. When I went in for my abortion, scared and only 19 years old, I was denied the option to see the ultrasound of my baby. I asked, but the abortion worker said no. Now women all over the commonwealth of Virginia will be denied that basic right as well. It would have changed the course of my life. Women deserve better.
Let's talk about the Reproductive Health Protection Act and what a BFD it is. A thread. /1
— Jamie Lockhart (@jlock) April 10, 2020
Pope Backfire: Trump’s Support Among Catholics Went Up After Trump Fired Back at Pope Leo
Ilhan Omar Husband’s Winery Suspiciously Shutters After Investigation Is Launched Into Her Finances
FLASHBACK: Obama tried to make Trump a punchline at 2011 dinner before rise stunned Washington
Trump cancels Witkoff and Kushner’s trip to Pakistan for Iran negotiations
U.S. Government Monitors as British Authorities Prosecute Christian Pastor Who Quoted John 3:16
Fetterman backs Wicker’s call to restart attacks in Iran
Trump to headline 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner for the first time as president
Rat Poison Found in Baby Food Jars Leads to Total Recall
Barricaded suspect faces murder charges after 2 doctoral students vanished from campus, 1 body remains missing
Father recalls horror after son murdered his 5 grandchildren: ‘I knew he killed them’
My Brother’s Teacher Told Him to ‘Draw What Brings You Most Joy’: Since His Answer Was the Cross, It Wasn’t Allowed
Parents in Bronx neighborhood plead for NYPD guard as Mamdani cuts cops, halts hires: ‘Horrible situation’
British Christian Nurse Accused of ‘Misgendering’ a Patient Cleared of Consequences
Radical activist groups circle wagons around Southern Poverty Law Center amid federal charges
US turns to drones after retiring minesweepers to reopen Strait of Hormuz amid Iran crisis
Today, @GovernorVA Northam signed HB980/SB733 into law. The legislation removes the politically-motivated restrictions on abortion care in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It will take effect on July 1, 2020. /2
— Jamie Lockhart (@jlock) April 10, 2020
Northam, a pediatric neurologist, created a firestorm and ushered in a national debate about infanticide in late January 2019 when he defended the bill introduced by Democrat Delegate Kathy Tran that would permit terminating the life of an unborn child, even if a woman decides to abort as she is dilating.
Northam said, under the bill, if an infant survives abortion:
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.
AUL’s Foster said Northam “should have been removed from office last year after he stated clearly and directly that when a child is born alive during an attempted abortion, she could be denied basic care and compassion, and left to die alone”:
He should have resigned from office a few days later when his racially insensitive actions came to light. Since neither his indifference towards the lives of newly born infants nor towards his fellow, minority citizens were enough to make Gov. Northam make the decent choice to leave office, we are now left with the devastating outcome that he has signed Virginia’s so-called “Reproductive Health Protections Act”—a fallacious name in every conceivable way since it only seeks to put women in more danger as it destroys community protections.
Virginia Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D), a sponsor of the legislation, said the extreme abortion measure “is about protecting Virginians’ health, rights, and basic dignity.”
Her colleague in the House, Majority Leader Charniele Herring, said, “Simply, this bill rolls back restrictions that are not evidence-based … I’m glad to see this bill signed into law.”
Story cited here.
