Virginia Mercury: “Smith was among the signers to jointly tell Earle-Sears that she didn’t have their vote because they “can’t trust” her to protect reproductive health”

VIRGINIA – New reporting from Virginia Mercury details how hundreds of Virginia Republicans and Democrats came together to call out Winsome Earle-Sears’ extreme record attacking reproductive rights, and committed to voting for Abigail Spanberger, a leader who will protect Virginia women's fundamental freedoms, in an open letter addressed to Sears. 

In an interview with Virginia Mercury, “longtime Republican voter” Mauricia Smith explained she’s breaking with her party because of Sears’ dangerous record attacking reproductive rights and believes Sears “can’t be trusted” to protect reproductive rights.  

Virginia Mercury: Open letter to Earle-Sears reflects Va. voters’ shifting sentiments on reproductive health care

• As Virginia weighs whether or not to enshrine reproductive health in its constitution, the issue is playing a significant role in the upcoming elections for governor and motivating voters across party lines — including some who say it’s reshaping how they plan to vote this fall. 
• That includes Salem-area resident Mauricia Smith, a longtime Republican voter who now plans to support Democrats in this year’s elections. She was among 450 women around the state to sign onto an open letter about how reproductive rights have influenced their decision.
• Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, marked her opposition to the state’s current reproductive rights constitutional amendment this spring and participated in anti-abortion demonstrations this year. 
• Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for governor, has pledged to support Virginians’ access to reproductive health services, including abortion, in vitro fertilization and contraception.
• Smith said she knows friends and family who have used in vitro fertilization to have children, and she said she knew a friend who chose to have an abortion after being sexually assaulted. Another friend’s daughter needed surgical intervention to safely manage a miscarriage as well, she said.
• “I just remember being so thankful that she was in Virginia and not another state where her life would have been at risk in that situation,” Smith said of the friend’s daughter. “That’s what makes reproductive rights important to me. I think they should be important to everyone.”
• Smith was among the signers to jointly tell Earle-Sears that she didn’t have their vote because they “can’t trust” her to protect reproductive health. Instead, the signers have vowed to support Spanberger. 
• Specifically, the letter points to Earle-Sears’ tie-breaking vote earlier this year on a right-to-contraception bill and a personal note — first reported by The Mercury — she left on Virginia’s in-progress constitutional amendment to enshrine reproductive rights.
• Smith framed Earle-Sears’ stance on reproductive rights as extremism — an issue she said should not be partisan. Smith feels “she can’t be trusted” on the issue and it factored into her decision to back Democrats — at least for the time being. 
• Abortion has been a key piece of opposition by Republicans for the reproductive rights amendment. But since it would also enshrine protected access to fertility treatments and contraception, the open letter accuses Earle-Sears of morally opposing “healthcare that Virginia women depend on.”
• If the amendment were to fail and Earle-Sears became the next governor, Smith said she wouldn’t trust her to protect reproductive rights.
• When Earle-Sears first ran for lieutenant governor in 2021, she called abortion “genocide” and opposed the procedure in all cases — except when a pregnant person’s life was in danger. But weeks before the election, she scrubbed most anti-abortion language from her campaign website after previously vowing to “do everything in my power” to stop abortions in Virginia.
• Earle-Sears’ campaign did not follow through by the time of this publication when asked if she wanted to elaborate further on her opposition to the amendment as it stands or if there were language adjustments to it she might support. Her campaign also did not respond to requests for comment on the open letter. 
• Smith said she hopes voters won’t choose their next governor or state delegate based solely on party affiliation, but instead make their decisions based on the issues that matter most to them.

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