This story was reported and written by Radio IQ.
President-elect Donald Trump has signaled both opposition and support for a federal ban on contraceptives, and Virginia Democrats are saying this puts future access to birth control at risk. In a news conference Thursday, they announced the bipartisan legislative effort to protect access that was vetoed last year will be back in 2025.
“Every single woman that needs contraception needs to be wide awake,” Democratic Delegate Cia Price warned as the 2025 Virginia legislative session gets under way.
Price and Senator Ghazala Hashmi are bringing back bipartisan efforts, vetoed by Governor Glenn Youngkin last year, that they say would protect the right to access contraception in the Commonwealth. The warning is required, they say, because of Trump’s flip-flop on the idea of a national ban.
“We’re looking at that and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly,” Trump told reporters when asked about a national contraceptive policy in May. “Things really do have a lot to do with the states, and some states are going to have different policy than others,” he added before promising something “comprehensive” during his term.
Later that day Trump walked that statement back in a social media post, saying “I HAVE NEVER, AND WILL NEVER ADVOCATE IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL, or other contraceptives.”
Hashmi said her concerns also come from an opinion from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
“By the end of the 1950s, according to the Roe Court’s own count, statutes in all but four States and the District of Columbia prohibited abortion,” Thomas wrote. “This overwhelming consensus endured until the day Roe was decided.”
“...an unbroken tradition of prohibiting abortion on pain of criminal punishment persisted from the earliest days of the common law until 1973,” he added.
“Make no mistake, our freedom to use contraception is on the line,” Hashmi said.
The senator also said the medications her bill would protect are also used to treat other issues, including managing menstrual pain that keeps women out of work.
“Having medication of this sort is essential for millions of Americans and even minors use contraceptive medications to manage the pain and get relife,” she said.
In his veto statement last year Youngkin said the bill lacked religious freedom protections for doctors and it violated the quote “fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning their children's upbringing and care.”
Republican Senator David Suetterlein was among those who voted against Hashmi’s effort last year. He said he’d do the same this year, believing the effort only opens new doors to lawsuits against doctors.
“That’s much more of a lawyer bill than actually helping regular Virginians.” Suetterlein told Radio IQ.
Suetterlein said he supported Hashmi’s effort to require health insurance providers to cover contraceptives during last year’s session; he said the medications can be pro-life because they help reduce abortions.
“That’s something that makes a whole lot of sense,” he said.
But Youngkin vetoed that one too, this time citing concerns about religious freedom for insurance companies.
Requests for additional comment from Youngkin on such efforts this year were not returned by press time.
Virginia’s 100 House of Delegates seats are also up for grabs this November. The right to contraception bills will be among abortion-related efforts Democrats plan to push. Price said it was important to get elected officials on record now ahead of the 2025 campaign season.
“Our votes tell the people what it is we stand for and who we’re fighting for,” Price said. “The story needs to be told: who is working on behalf of people and who is not?”
There’s also rumors of a pro-contraception bill coming from Republicans, though specifics were not yet available. What abortion-related bills have been submitted from Republicans so far include felony punishment for conducting an abortion on a “born alive infant.” Submitted by Delegates Nick Frietas and Tim Griffin, neither returned a request for comment.
In a statement, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia said the GOP’s past on the issue, and their most recent efforts, make them doubt any “pro-contraception” bills from the right.
“We welcome any effort to protect access to birth control, but let’s be clear: this bill is likely a disingenuous attempt to fix problems they’ve long ignored or exacerbated,” PPVA Executive Director Jamie Lockhart said.
Legislation is set to go before committees starting next week.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
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