| RICHMOND, Va. – Thanks to Democratic majorities in the Senate and House of Delegates, the General Assembly today sent the Virginia Right to Contraception Act to Governor Youngkin’s desk.
SB 1105, patroned by Senator Ghazala Hashmi (D-Richmond) and HB 1716, patroned by Delegate Marcia “Cia” Price (D-Newport News) would codify the right to obtain and use FDA-approved forms of contraception — including condoms, IUDs, the pill and emergency contraceptives.
Nearly every Republican in the state legislature voted against the bills, as did Lt. Governor Winsome Sears earlier in the session.
In his concurrence in the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe. v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas said the U.S. Supreme Court “should reconsider” the right to contraception next. On the campaign trail last year, Donald Trump said he was “looking at” restrictions on contraception. The Associated Press reported in January that some information about contraception was stripped from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website, while Project 2025 takes specific aim at emergency contraception. Meanwhile, legislation introduced in South Carolina this month would ban IUDs and emergency contraceptives.
The passage of the legislation comes on the heels of the Feb. 7 return of Freeda, a 20-foot inflatable IUD, to Capitol Square. Senator Hashmi and Delegate Price gathered at the event with advocates and impacted Virginians to discuss the importance of protecting our right to contraception given recent attacks on reproductive freedom.
“This is so critically important; Virginia must enshrine the right to contraception in our state law,” said Senator Hashmi. “The threat to contraception is no longer just a campaign promise from Donald Trump. That man is now in the Oval Office, and our rights to our own bodies are literally on the line. Let’s be assured, Delegate Price and I are going to continue to make our case to this governor. It’s time that he stops listening to extremists and instead starts listening to Virginians.”
Delegate Price said that when the governor is presented the bill “he will have to make clear: Does he stand with chaos and taking our freedoms, or will he stand with Virginians and sign the bill to protect our access to contraception?”
Delegate Price also noted that “though the majority of Republicans, including Lieutenant Governor Sears, are voting against you, Democrats won’t stop until Virginians have their rights protected. Senator Hashmi and I are committed to this, and we urge the governor to do the right thing and sign the bill.” |
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