h/t to Josh Israel of ThinkProgress and to American Bridge 21st Century for catching this one:
In a radio interview with conservative host John Fredericks last week — flagged by American Bridge 21st Century — [Virginia Del. Bob] Thomas [R-HD28] was asked whether near-total abortion bans like the one just enacted in Georgia go to far. He said they do not and that if the Republicans can win back the governorship and hold the legislature, they will bring such a law to Virginia.
“I don’t believe it’s too extreme,” Thomas said. “I think the problem we have here in Virginia is we have a Democrat [sic] governor. We’ve had one for a decade now. And if we’re ever to take the tide back and and start putting some of those laws in Virginia, we have to find candidates who can win in blue areas of the state.”
“I would love to see Virginia move that way but we have to have a governor who’s willing to sign these things. So we have to make some real progress in the next two years.”
Check out the audio, below, with the above quotes at about 8 minutes in. Oh, and make sure you help elect Democrat Joshua Cole – who was endorsed in 2017 by Planned Parenthood as a “reproductive health champion” – this coming November!
UPDATE: From Progress Virginia…
Delegate Bob Thomas Thinks Virginia Should Follow Georgia’s Lead on Abortion
Fredericksburg, Virginia—In the wake of Georgia’s passage of a bill banning abortion before many women even know they’re pregnant, Virginia Delegate Bob Thomas has called for the same extreme measure here in the Commonwealth. When asked whether bans on abortion like the measures that have passed Georgia and now Alabama are too extreme, Thomas replied “I don’t believe it’s too extreme… I would love to see Virginia move that way.”
“Bills that ban abortion are about controlling women’s bodies and policing their behavior, nothing else. Zealots like Delegate Thomas are doing everything they can to ban abortion access and criminalize the women who seek them. We refuse to stand for it,” Anna Scholl, Executive Director of Progress Virginia, said. “Everyone should be able to choose whether, how, and when to start a family for themselves. Access to safe, legal, and affordable abortion is vital to making that decision a reality. We will continue to fight to ensure all Virginians, regardless of income level, skin color, immigration status, or gender identity are able to get the health care they need when they need it. When radical politicians like Delegate Bob Thomas crusade to end our access to healthcare, we’ll make sure they face the consequences on Election Day.”
In addition to the bill passed in Georgia last week, the Alabama Senate passed an extreme abortion ban that would make all abortions, including in cases of rape and incest, a crime punishable by up to 99 years in prison. Before Roe v. Wade, illegal abortions were estimated to range from 200,000 to 1.2 million per year and constituted at least 17 percent of all deaths attributed to pregnancy and childbirth in 1965 alone. When abortion is legal, it is safer than a colonoscopyand has a mortality rate of only .0006%.
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