On World Contraception Day, Remember Winsome Earle-Sears Blocked the Right to Contraception Act and Has an Extreme Record Attacking Reproductive Rights

On World Contraception Day, it’s a good time to remind everyone that the 2025 Virginia Democratic ticket is strongly in FAVOR of protections for contraception, birth control and reproductive rights, while the 2025 Virginia Republican ticket is strongly AGAINST those things.

On World Contraception Day, Remember Sears Blocked the Right to Contraception Act and Has an Extreme Record Attacking Reproductive Rights

VIRGINIA  – Today, on World Contraception Day, remember that Winsome Earle-Sears has an extreme record opposing protections for contraception and birth control and attacking reproductive rights. Sears cast the deciding vote against the Right to Contraception Act and left a handwritten note that said she is “morally opposed” to the constitutional amendment that would protect reproductive freedom in Virginia, including contraception, abortion, and IVF.

“Winsome Earle-Sears has a dangerous and extreme record on reproductive rights from voting against the right to contraception to supporting a near-total abortion ban. Sears owes answers to Virginia women on why she wants politicians to make decisions for women about their own bodies,” said DPVA Spokesperson Maggie Amjad.

Read about Sears’ Dangerous Record on Reproductive Rights:

• Sears admitted she would not sign the Right to Contraception Act into law saying “[…] This legislation is more about pushing a political agenda […].”

• Sears “couldn’t resist” voting against this legislation to guarantee Virginia women’s access to contraception.

•  In multiple interviews, Sears has made clear her support for restrictions on abortion.
  • In a 2022 interview she said, “We need to make our choices before we’re pregnant, not, you know, after, you already made a choice.”
  • During her campaign for Lieutenant Governor she called abortion “genocide.”

• Sears supports an extreme six week abortion ban similar to the law that took effect in Texas that bans abortion before most women know they are pregnant.

• Sears has said that she would support an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest.
  • January 2021: The Winchester Star reported that Sears said she wanted to make abortion illegal in all cases, unless the life of the mother was at risk.

• Sears vowed to “do everything in [her] power” to end abortion in Virginia.
  • Sears’ 2021 lieutenant governor campaign website: “I will do everything in my power to stop this act from taking place in Virginia.”
    • Sears attempted to scrub this abortion section from her website around September 2021.

• Sears left a handwritten note that she is “morally opposed to this bill […]” on the constitutional amendment that would protect reproductive freedom in Virginia, including contraception, abortion, and IVF.

• Sears has declared she is “standing shoulder to shoulder” with the far-right fight against IVF.

Also, see this article about John Reid’s strong opposition to reproductive freedom:

“Nov. 1, 2024, comparing abortion to slavery and repeating the lie that abortions are performed up to and including the day of birth: “I think we should be debating abortion because I think it’s pretty horrible, especially with the Democrats saying, Oh, it’s no problem killing a baby on the day it’s going to be born. Does anybody pause about it? I think that’s not a great place for us to be as a society. Everybody who acts horrified by how terrible slavery was — and I concur. Slavery is pretty bad. But is it? What do you think of killing a baby on the day it’s supposed to be born by ripping it apart in the womb? Is that not disturbing to you or it just doesn’t matter or, oh, it’s the mother’s choice.” 

July 26, 2024, comparing out-of-state patients seeking abortions in Virginia to the slave trade: “Richmond is so ashamed of having been a major center in the slave trade a hundred years ago, 200 years ago, 300 years ago, and that’s a real source of contemporary consternation today. I don’t know why you would choose to become a stop on the abortion trail these days, voluntarily.”

Nov. 21, 2023, discussing Democratic victories in the 2023 election: “It’s weird to me that the average voter seemed to prioritize abortion over their economic survival, their physical survival of their family. I mean, I guess a few more people getting shot in the parking lot of the Whole Foods grocery, maybe they’ll wake up at some point. But, you know, I mean, you have to decide what’s important to you.” 

As for Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, see here:

• As one of his first acts in office, Miyares urged the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade and withdrew Virginia from a legal brief with 23 other attorneys general in opposing Mississippi’s abortion ban and defending a woman’s access to abortion.
• After the Dobbs decision, Miyares refused to join two dozen attorneys general in signing an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to continue to allow the use and distribution of the safe and commonly prescribed abortion medication mifepristone.
• As Attorney General, Miyares endorsed Gov. Youngkin’s failed attempt to ban abortion after 15 weeks, which would have denied Virginians the fundamental right to make personal healthcare decisions.
• As a state lawmaker, Miyares voted to defund Planned Parenthood, which annually performs more than 500,000 breast cancer exams and pap exams nationally.
• He also voted to repeal the law that authorizes “expenditures from the general fund for abortion services…related to medical assistance to preserve the life of the pregnant woman.”###

Bottom line: if you care about access to contraception and to reproductive health care, then make sure you vote Democratic up and down the ballot this November 4 (or earlier)…and every November, for that matter.