Inside NOVA: Letter: Taking away choices can be detrimental to women and families
 
The News-Gazette Letter to the Editor: Earle-Sears Would ‘Push For Extreme Abortion Restrictions’

VIRGINIA – As Winsome Earle-Sears continues to push her extreme agenda rolling back reproductive rights and supporting abortion bans, Virginians are calling her out and committing to supporting Abigail Spanberger, a leader who will protect Virginia women's fundamental freedoms. 
 
In a letter to the editor, Virginian Jenny Higginbotham shared her story and the importance of a woman's right to make her own healthcare decisions. She wrote: 

“I’m here today because 33 years ago I was able to make a choice. It’s why I believe that a woman’s reproductive rights and decisions regarding her health should be her own. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican candidate for governor, disagrees.”
 
What Virginians Are Saying: 
 
Inside NOVA: Letter: Taking away choices can be detrimental to women and families

• 33 years ago, I was 21 weeks pregnant when I went in for a routine ultrasound with my husband and our 2-year-old daughter. 
• The doctor said that the baby had hydrops. Its chest cavity and abdomen were filled with fluid. Even though the baby had a heartbeat, it would not survive.
• We had to decide whether to terminate the pregnancy that day or return the next. He told us that if we waited any longer, we could run into legal barriers and even consequences.
• After the procedure, the doctor told me that gangrene had set in on the baby’s limbs. If I had carried any longer, I could have died, leaving my daughter to grow up without a mother.
• I’m here today because 33 years ago I was able to make a choice. It’s why I believe that a woman’s reproductive rights and decisions regarding her health should be her own.
• Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican candidate for governor, disagrees. If she has the chance, she will enact a near total abortion ban that will threaten women’s lives. Sears vowed to do everything in her power to end abortion in Virginia.
• She has said, “We need to make our choices before we’re pregnant, not, you know, after, you already made a choice.”
• My story is a reminder that you never know what could happen or what heart-wrenching decisions you might have to make and that taking away choices would be detrimental to women and their families.
• If these restrictions had been in place 33 years ago, my story might have had a different ending. We can’t let Winsome Earle-Sears win this November.

The News-Gazette: Earle-Sears Would ‘Push For Extreme Abortion Restrictions’

• Today I would like to discuss my concerns about the Republican candidate Winsome Earle-Sears’ record on reproductive rights and health care for women.
• Earle-Sears has a long record documenting her views on the reproductive rights of women. In the past she has said that she considers abortion to be “genocide,” she supports making abortion illegal in all cases except when the mother’s life is at risk or in the case of rape or incest.
• Earle-Sears, whose role as the president of the Virginia State Senate requires her to sign bills that the legislature passes, reluctantly signed a bill that would codify abortion rights in the constitution. She wrote, “I am morally opposed to this bill; no protection for the child.” Earle-Sears and Governor Youngkin both support a 15-week abortion ban. However in the past Earle-Sears supported a six-week ban, in line with current extreme Texas law.
• Women with the help of medical professionals should be making their own decisions about their own health care, not politicians or the government.
• If Winsome Earle-Sears becomes governor, she has promised to push for extreme abortion bans and restrictions on contraceptives. Right now, Virginia is the last Southern state where reproductive rights are still protected. I believe women in Virginia deserve this respect and autonomy. Please think about that when going to the polls this November.

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