Women Are Watching

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Virginia
State at risk

State “At Risk”

Virginia

Why we’re watching: Politicians in Virginia are mimicking the anti-women’s health agenda of their pals in the U.S. House across the Potomac, working to pass legislation that would slash health care for women, while attempting to give full legal rights to fertilized eggs. And in a complete example of government overreach, Governor Bob McDonnell recently signed a bill that will force health care providers to use an ultrasound for political — and not medical — reasons. With the recent off-year election of an anti-women’s health majority in the state Senate, anti-choice politicians now control the top three statewide offices, the House of Delegates, the state Senate, and the executive branch.

Why We’re Watching Virginia

As if Congress isn’t bad enough, anti-women’s health politicians in Virginia are pursuing a dangerous and out-of-touch political agenda at the expense of women’s health.

Thinking they know better than women and their doctors and in an act of complete government overreach, lawmakers in Virginia are inserting themselves in the middle of the doctor-patient relationship. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell recently signed a bill that creates several new, onerous obstacles for women seeking abortion care that have no basis in medicine. It mandates doctors perform procedures that may not be medically needed and forces women to make two trips to access abortion care.

A woman needs the best care she can get from health care providers in her community. She does not need politically motivated judgment from Governor Bob McDonnell and anti choice allies in the legislature..

When McDonnell — who has made no secret of his national political ambitions — first came into office, he wasted little time promoting policies that ideologically extreme dreams are made of: rejecting funding for comprehensive sex education and barring women from purchasing comprehensive health insurance coverage that covers abortion care.

But McDonnell, and his anti-women’s health cohort, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli weren’t done. In perhaps the most egregious example of putting politics above women’s health, McDonnell and Cuccinelli fast-tracked a backdoor attempt to ban abortion in the state. During the 2011 General Assembly, they, along with fellow anti-women’s health cronies in the state legislature, pushed excessive and onerous Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers (TRAP) legislation on a purported “emergency” basis, limiting public comment and education on the issue.

Let’s be clear. TRAP has nothing to do with practicing medicine or improving women’s health — but everything to do with politics. These onerous and medically irrelevant regulations will affect more than women’s access to early abortion care, because most abortion care providers offer a full array of safe, affordable, preventive health services, including breast and cervical cancer screening, STD testing and treatment, and birth control. As a result of these so-called “emergency” regulations, thousands of women risk losing access to preventive health care, because women’s health centers could be forced to close.

Meanwhile, the Virginia State Senate narrowly flipped into control of anti-women’s health hands in 2011, and legislators have already indicated it is open season on women’s health care in 2012.

First item on the legislature’s agenda after midterm elections? A so-called “personhood” bill to declare a fertilized egg a person. House Bill 1 is a measure with similar intent as the ballot initiative rejected overwhelmingly by Mississippi voters and twice rejected by Colorado voters.

First on Governor McDonnell’s 2012 agenda, of course, is the state budget and (after years of slashing) his proposal includes the total elimination of the state’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative, which works to reduce unintended teen pregnancy through evidence-based, comprehensive education and health services serving over 4,000 teens in communities with the highest teen pregnancy rates in the state.

The governor’s decision to eliminate the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative, a key part of the state’s teen pregnancy prevention efforts since 1994 when started under Republican Governor George Allen, does a great disservice to Virginia’s teens. McDonnell’s proposed budget cut will deprive teenage girls in the most high-risk areas of the state of the critical services and education necessary to make responsible and healthy life decisions. The elimination of the program means Virginia teens could end up paying the price when they don’t have the information and services they need to make responsible and healthy life decisions.

In Virginia, women are watching politicians break their promise to focus on jobs and the economy every day. We see politicians like Bob McDonnell put their personal ambitions above women’s health. This year, we’ll be working to put a stop to extreme efforts to bring “personhood” to Virginia and to deny comprehensive health information to teens that need it.

KEY ARTICLES
Virginian-Pilot : Senate OKs, governor to sign abortion bill
AP (VA): Some medical advisors question abortion rules
Washington Post: McDonnell proposes eliminating Virginia funding for teen pregnancy centers

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