OPINION:
With time running out on Democrats’ control of the Virginia governorship and House of Delegates, abortion rights extremists in Richmond are maneuvering to get one final — albeit major — piece of their agenda codified into state law before Republicans take over in mid-January.
Apparently, they aren’t content with having repealed modest abortion restrictions enacted by prior Republican-controlled legislatures and GOP governors, such as requirements that women wait 24 hours and get an ultrasound before having the procedure.
Their drive to codify Roe v. Wade — the highly divisive 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide — took on new urgency following Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin’s upset victory in the governor’s race and after the GOP reclaimed control of the lower house of the legislature, both on Nov. 2.
NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia is shamelessly urging Democrats in the General Assembly to do an end-run around the election results by calling a special session before the new House of Delegates is seated on Jan. 12 and Mr. Youngkin is sworn in three days later. (The state Senate was not up for election in November, so its partisan makeup — 21 Democrats and 19 Republicans — remains unchanged.)
The pro-choice group’s executive director openly admitted to being blindsided by the Nov. 2 election results. “Honestly, I don’t think any of us thought we’d be in this situation,” Tarina Keene told The Washington Post. Hence, the prospective 11th-hour machinations.
Many Democrats in the lame-duck House, including outgoing Democrat Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn of Fairfax, support the idea of a special session. Still, it’s running into an unlikely and unexpected obstacle: Lawmakers’ travel plans for Christmas and New Year’s. Many would have to cancel or cut short their vacations to return to Richmond.
“The [time] is running out. Virginia must codify abortion rights like our neighbor Maryland did 30 years ago,” Delegate Elizabeth Guzman, Prince William Democrat, tweeted Dec. 17. “Glenn Youngkin cannot be trusted to protect the right to an abortion.”
She then responded to her own tweet: “We can meet virtually or do it on Jan. 10, when everyone is back. Let’s make it happen. We owe it to Virginia women.”
Theoretically, Ms. Filler-Corn and Senate President Richard Saslaw, Fairfax Democrat, could call lawmakers back to Richmond because, according to the Post, the General Assembly never formally adjourned a summer special session.
Elections have consequences, of course, and calling for a lame-duck special session to circumvent those consequences is the political equivalent of a middle finger. Tactically, it reeks of the same “ends justify the means” mindset of Democrats in Congress seeking to ram through President Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar “Build Back Better” social spending boondoggle over unanimous Republican opposition via the Senate reconciliation process.
The question then becomes: Who in the Democratic caucus of the Virginia General Assembly will be the equivalent of Sen. Joe Manchin, West Virginia Democrat, and have the political rectitude to stand up and render any bill attempting to codify Roe into Virginia law stillborn?
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