Yesterday, Republicans defeated my Birth Control Protection Act in a party line vote.
The intent of this bill is simple and straightforward, to simply define contraception in the Virginia Code. In too many places, the line between contraception and abortion is being blurred and I wanted to clarify that so Virginians can plan their families and the incidence of unwanted pregnancies will be reduced.
We all agree on wanting to diminish the number of abortions. The most obvious way to accomplish that goal is to ensure access to contraceptives for couples who wish to use them. All this Act did was to define birth control.
The defeat of this very simply unobtrusive measure makes me wonder if the Republicans real intent is to prevent access to contraceptives, to continue to blur lines and, eventually for them to make all family decisions for Virginians.
Senator McEachin represents Henrico County in the Virginia State Senate, and chairs the Senate Democratic Caucus.
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