Category: Abortion, Feminism, Women’s Rights
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Lies, Damn Lies, and Presidential Debates
by James A. Bacon Virginia played prominently in the disinformation spewed by President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in their first 2024 presidential debate last night. Biden brought up the seemingly unkillable canard that Trump referred to the White supremacists in the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville as “good people.” Meanwhile,…
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The Speaker Rules
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates is widely regarded as the second-most powerful figure, after the Governor, in Virginia state government. Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth), elevated to the position this session after only two terms in the House, has let the power go to his head. Rather than acting like…
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Barbie, Liars, and Newspapers Circling the Drain
by Kerry Dougherty Warning: I’m a tad grouchy today. You see, I’m a hyperactive gym rat who hasn’t worked out since last Tuesday and has been slowed down by surgery. That happened Wednesday, by the way, when a skilled orthopedic surgeon sawed off part of my leg. In other words, I’ve had way too much…
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Right to Life March Falls on Deaf Ears as Dobbs Makes Abortion Issue More Difficult for Republicans
by Ken Reid The 50th annual pro-life march took place in DC January 19; it has been held every year since 1974, the year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade, that women had a constitutional protection for abortion, and thus negated 50 state laws regulating the procedure. It was cold and…
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Proposed Reproductive Freedom Amendment Could Eliminate Limits
by Emilio Jaksetic House Joint Resolution 1 (HJ 1) and Senate Joint Resolution 1 (SJ 1) have been prefiled for consideration of the Virginia General Assembly to propose an amendment to the Virginia Constitution captioned “Article I, Bill of Rights, Section 11-A. Fundamental right to reproductive freedom.” A copy of HJ 1 is available at here…
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Daughter of Heroines
by Margot Heffernan The year is 2023 but it feels as if the calendar has rolled back a hundred years for women and girls in Virginia, and just about anywhere else in the Western world. Hyperbolic? Over the top? Sadly, no. Each day women are censored, denigrated, and erased; called bigots for speaking biological fact;…
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Virginia Dems Have a Razor-Thin Majority, Not a Mandate
by Kerry Dougherty Gosh, it seems like it was just last month that Virginia Democrats accused Republicans of being too extreme on abortion and used that wedge issue to gain a slight edge in the General Assembly. (The GOP favors a reasonable 15-week limit, preventing the grisly practice of late-term abortions, except in cases of…
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Virginia Might Legalize Abortion in All 9 Months of Pregnancy
by Hans Bader Virginia may permanently legalize abortion in all nine months of pregnancy by banning any regulation of abortion unless necessary to meet a compelling interest, and — more importantly — defining “compelling interest” to exclude the life of the fetus even after viability. That is what is mandated by a state constitutional amendment…
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Song Sung Blue
by James A. Bacon Not every General Assembly race has been decided, according to the data displayed by the Virginia Public Access Project, but enough votes are in to conclude that the Democrats won the election. They retained their control of the state Senate and won a narrow majority in the House. Some preliminary observations:…
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Virginia Republicans Respond to Lies About Abortion
by Jeanine Martin Democrats mean what they say: abortions allowed up until the moment of birth and for some, like former Governor Ralph Northam, even after a child is born. Currently Democrats are claiming Republicans want to ban abortion in Virginia. For instance, the excellent Republican candidate for the State Senate in the 31st district,…
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No Republican Says “Pregnant Persons”, WaPo
By Steve Haner There is no way House Republican spokesman Garren Shipley used the term “pregnant person” in discussing the ongoing campaign debate over the abortion issue with a Washington Post reporter. The reporter or an editor intentionally broke up his quote to insert the now politically correct term in a recent story. Here is…
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Voyeurism Isn’t Good for the Soul (or Politics)
by Shaun Kenney The scandal of the week involving Susanna Gibson is an indictment of our politics. Shame on us all for participating in it. HAMLET Get thee ⟨to⟩ a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it…
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When Did the RTD Become TMZ?
by Shaun Kenney The Richmond Times-Dispatch was given a clip of David Owen — Republican candidate for House of Delegates — where he tells an audience of like-minded souls that he is, indeed, pro-life. Charlotte Rene Woods over at the RTD decides to do the work of Democratic campaign operatives in what could only be…
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POLLS: Inflation Top Issue; Virginians Reject Democrats’ Position on Abortion
by Shaun Kenney New polling data from Founders Insight reveal that 24% of Virginians are putting inflation as their top concern heading into the November elections, with abortion coming in at 15% and split between Democrats and Republicans. To make matters worse for Virginia Democrats, a summer spent pushing abortion rights has backfired spectacularly, as…
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Yes, Virginia Democrats Really Do Want Abortion Up to 40 Weeks (and Beyond)
by Shaun Kenney This November in Ohio, a referendum measure will be on the ballot that will not only enshrine abortion as a state constitutional right — the measure will eliminate parental notification and parental consent on any and all decisions about sexuality and gender in language so broad that it encompasses not just abortion…