Today, Governor Glenn Youngkin took another step in his extreme anti-abortion agenda. Adding onto his record pace of vetoes, he rejected multiple bills that protect reproductive rights and abortion providers. 

One of the bills (SB-15/HB-1539) would have prevented Virginia from extraditing women who travel to the Commonwealth to get an abortion from states where the procedure is illegal, as well as the abortion care providers. Another bill (HB-519/SB-716) would have protected abortion providers and doctors from retaliation by the Board of Medicine. These vetoes come days after Florida’s Supreme Court ruled the state’s abortion ban constitutional, reaffirming that Virginia is the only safe haven in the South for reproductive rights.

Youngkin is out-of-touch with Virginians and Americans. A new poll conducted by NPR/Newshour/Marist found that 84 percent of Americans reject criminalizing women who get abortions. This is an overwhelmingly popular opinion across the country. 

Youngkin and Republicans across the country are on a mission to ban abortion for every woman in every state. And it won’t end there. They are coming after contraception. They are coming after abortion pills. They are even coming after IVF. If they claim to be pro-life, why are they fixated on stopping couples from having children?

“Virginia is the only state in the South where women have access to abortions. Even though Virginians made it clear in November that they are against Glenn Youngkin’s extreme anti-abortion agenda, he is still doing everything in his limited power to strip away reproductive rights,” DPVA Chairwoman Susan Swecker said. “His veto of a bill that would have protected women who travel to the Commonwealth to get an abortion from being extradited is just another gross example of how Republicans will not stop until women have no options left. Women's freedom is on the ballot this November. We cannot let our children and grandchildren have less rights than we do right now.”