( – promoted by lowkell)
All three of the statewide candidates in Virginia who stand with women – Terry McAuliffe, Ralph Northam and Mark Herring – will champion the issues of reproductive rights, equal pay, protection from sexual violence and voter suppression. All three strongly support women’s health and economic security and equality. And all three are overwhelmingly supported by women in Virginia.
In contrast, Ken Cuccinelli’s political career has been dedicated to denying women in Virginia access to abortion, birth control and preventive health care. “The ultimate goal is to make abortion disappear in America and make people want it that way,” said the Republican candidate for Governor. He wants to insert himself into the private lives of women, and the women of Virginia are responding to that with a resounding, “No!”
Cuccinelli used questionable ethical practices to ensure the passing of TRAP regulations that are forcing abortion clinics to close around the Commonwealth. Knowing the clinics would be unable to afford alterations that would put them in compliance with the stringent new architectural guidelines, Cuccinelli bullied the Virginia Board of Health – by claiming they did not have legal authority and threatening to sue them – into reversing their own decision to grandfather existing clinics into the new regulations, thereby passing the TRAP regulations for all clinics in Virginia. This abuse of power has caused preventative health care services to be stripped from many women living in the communities that need them most.
The others on the GOP ticket are no better when it comes to women’s rights. We stand against Cuccinelli, Jackson and Obenshain as fervently as we stand for McAuliffe, Northam and Herring.
Mark Obenshain, the GOP candidate for Attorney General, said that he and Ken Cuccinelli are like “two peas in a pod, philosophically” and that Obenshain would “take the baton from Ken, build on his work, without missing a step.” Obenshain and Cuccinelli co-patroned the Personhood bill that could outlaw all abortion and many common forms of birth control, and Obenshain introduced a bill that would require women to report a miscarriage to police within 24 hours of having lost the baby.
In the Lieutenant Governor’s race, Ralph Northam and E.W. Jackson are polar opposites. Northam is a doctor and a staunch supporter of reproductive rights, while Jackson is an ideologue focused on legislating morality. He believes gays are “very sick” and that the Democratic Party is “anti-God.”
McAuliffe would affirm that the Virginia State Board of Health does have the legal authority to grandfather existing women’s health centers under the licensing standards in place in 2011, thereby enabling them to reverse themselves back to their original decision and repeal TRAP – at least for existing centers. He would continue the effort to repeal the ultrasound legislation and fiercely oppose any new threats to reproductive rights and access to contraception. These are the actions of a candidate that supports women. So UniteWomen.org ACTION stands with Terry McAuliffe, Ralph Northam and Mark Herring in Virginia.
Written by Shannon Fisher, Vice President of Outreach & Public Relations for UniteWomen.org, Public.Relations@UniteWomen.org, 804-404-2284.
UniteWomen.org Virginia State Director is Brenda Seward, UniteWomenVirginia@gmail.com.
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