Youngkin Proposes Cruel and Discriminatory Budget Amendment that Would Force Low-Income Virginians to Carry Pregnancies with Severe Fetal Diagnoses 

From Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia:

Virginia Governor Proposes Cruel and Discriminatory Budget Amendment that Would Force Low-Income Virginians to Carry Pregnancies with Severe Fetal Diagnoses 

Richmond, Va – Yesterday, Governor Glenn Youngkin proposed an amendment to the Commonwealth’s biennial budget, Amendment 30, that would ban Virginians eligible for Medicaid from receiving funding to end pregnancies with severe fetal diagnoses, like anencephaly, in which a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull. If it passes, Virginians with low incomes will be forced to carry pregnancies fraught with suffering. Virginia denies state funding to Medicaid-eligible pregnant people who seek an abortion except in the cases of rape, incest, when their life is at risk, and in cases of incapacitating fetal diagnoses. This amendment would strike fetal diagnoses from this list, interfering with low-income Virginians’ fundamental right to make decisions about their health and family.

Jamie Lockhart, Executive Director, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia:

“Shame on Governor Youngkin for proposing this cruel and discriminatory amendment to the budget. People facing complex and tragic circumstances surrounding pregnancy, like a fatal fetal diagnosis, deserve our compassion and support – not shame and funding restrictions that put necessary abortion care out of reach.

Wealthy women, and others with financial resources who can become pregnant, will always be able to end a pregnancy after receiving a fatal diagnosis. This amendment will disproportionately impact people of color who will be forced to carry pregnancies that will result in a stillbirth or in the birth of a baby incompatible with life. If this funding is cut, low-income Virginians will be the ones having to go without access to the life-saving health care they need.

For legislators voting on Friday afternoon: Virginians are watching. If you support this amendment, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia will make it known that you believe Virginians with low incomes should be forced to carry pregnancies fraught with suffering.”

This funding will affect cases in § 32.1-92.2 where the fetus “will be born with a gross and totally incapacitating physical deformity or with a gross and totally incapacitating mental deficiency.” In Fiscal Year 2021, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) approved funding for 21 abortions due to fetal anomalies.

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Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia (PPAV) is a statewide advocacy organization whose mission is to preserve and broaden access to reproductive health care through legislation, public education, electoral activity and litigation in the Commonwealth of Virginia. PPAV works to ensure that individuals and families have the freedom, information, and ability to make their own informed reproductive choices.