On Thursday, Planned Parenthood Virginia PAC and ProgressVA, along with supporters and volunteers, presented Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli with the “Gynotician of the Year Award” adopting the word from a national campaign to say “enough is enough” to politicians who think they are more qualified than women and their doctors to make women’s health care decisions.
The action comes the same day as Virginia’s medically unnecessary Targeted Restrictions of Abortion Providers (TRAP) go into effect. Ken Cuccinelli was instrumental in getting these restrictions passed, bullying the Virginia Board of Health to ensure their passage.
Supporters and volunteers were not allowed entry into the Attorney General’s office and no one from the office would accept the award.
Ken Cuccinelli was out of office today at a campaign event in Northern Virginia. At the event, Cuccinelli said “It’s not like I overdo this” when asked about his stances on women’s health.
Statement from Cianti Stewart-Reid, Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Virginia PAC:
“Ken Cuccinelli is the very definition of a Gynotician — a politician who feels more qualified than women and their doctors to make women’s health care decisions. For too long, Ken Cuccinelli has been operating with impunity in our state. It is time to say ‘enough is enough.’ Personal medical decisions belong back in the hands of Virginia women and their doctors.
“On the same day the unnecessary and unreasonable TRAP restrictions go into effect, it is clear Ken Cuccinelli has overdone his attacks on women’s health and has earned this award. We must keep Ken out of before his extreme and dangerous views on women’s health get to the governor’s mansion.
“The bottom line is that a woman’s access to quality care should not depend on Ken Cuccinelli’s personal opinion of her health care decisions. Politicians should not be involved in women’s personal medical decisions. Virginians want doctors and medical experts to make medical decisions and set health regulations, not politicians like Ken Cuccinelli.”
Statement from Anna Scholl, Executive Director of Progress VA:
“Ken Cuccinelli has spent his career crusading against women’s access to health care and safe and legal abortion. No politician should substitute their extreme ideological agenda for the judgment and advice of medical professionals. Ken Cuccinelli thinks he knows better than women and their the doctors when it comes to private health care decisions and for that he is the obvious recipient of the Gynotician of the Year Award.”
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