Glenn Youngkin has been in league with the theocrats at The Family Foundation and similar ultra far right "Christian" groups from the onset of his campaign. Youngkin has promised these factions to end or highly restrict abortion in gatherings closed to the press while pretending to the larger public that he's not a wolf in sheep's even though he is one in fact. Now, with Texas' near total ban on abortion - even in cases of rape or incest - which Virginia theocrats want to bring to Virginia it is past time that Youngkin's true position to disclosed to the public and his duplicitous evasions come to an end. The reality is that Youngkin is just as extreme on his positions as Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli was, the only difference being that Youngkin is better at holding his tongue and engaging in evasion that Kookinelli. It is noteworthy that Youngkin's running mate - the truly scary Winsome Sears - has come out in favor of bringing a Texas style law to Virginia. A piece in the Washington Post looks at the situation in the wake of the Texas abortion law. It's important that voters realize that abortion is but one of the Christofascist agenda items favored by Youngkin and the GOP ticket. Here are article highlights:
A new law banning most abortions in Texas instantly planted the divisive issue in the center of a governor's race some 1,500 miles away in Virginia, where Democrat Terry McAuliffe had already been hammering on the subject and Republican Glenn Youngkin was doing his best to avoid it.
McAuliffe, a former governor seeking a comeback, launched two TV ads focused on abortion just days before the Texas statute took effect Wednesday. Texas pushed his efforts into overdrive. Within hours, McAuliffe was blasting the law at a business forum, in fundraising appeals and on Twitter.
Youngkin — caught on video early in the campaign saying he would play down his opposition to abortion to woo independent voters, then go “on offense” as governor — sidestepped questions about whether he would back a Texas-style law in Virginia . . . Youngkin also grumbled a bit that the issue was suddenly overshadowing all others, but he embraced it in his own way, as his campaign played up a video calling McAuliffe’s abortion stance “extreme.”
But there was no hesitation on the part of Winsome Sears, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor and former state delegate, who said in an interview Friday on Newsmax that she would back a Texas-style bill. “I would support that,” she said. “When did it become the wrong thing for us to support the babies in the womb?”
Del. Jason Miyares (R-Virginia Beach), who is running for attorney general primarily on law-and-order issues, did not weigh in on the Texas law on social media. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment on whether he would support similar legislation for Virginia.
Meanwhile, McAuliffe’s statewide ticket mates — Del. Hala S. Ayala (D-Prince William), who is running for lieutenant governor, and Attorney General Mark Herring (D), who is seeking a third term — reiterated their support for abortion rights on Twitter.
The Texas law puts abortion “front and center in the race,” said Bob Holsworth, a veteran Richmond political analyst. “I expected that to occur with Mississippi, but now it’s been really accelerated because of Texas.”
“Clearly, it’s something the Democrats believe will work to their benefit, largely because McAuliffe has been all over this,” Holsworth said, while also noting Youngkin’s more skittish response. “This really will require Youngkin to specify what his position is.”
Republicans pushed a slew of abortion restrictions in 2012 when they controlled the state House of Delegates, Senate and Executive Mansion — including a bill that would have required women seeking abortions to first get an ultrasound.
The measure drew a national backlash when it became clear that in most cases, the procedure would require an invasive, vaginal probe. After getting skewered by late-night comics and “Saturday Night Live,” Republicans modified the bill to mandate an abdominal ultrasound instead, but for years afterward, statewide Democratic candidates successfully invoked it as proof that the GOP was waging a “war on women.” That rallying cry faded only as Trump emerged as a more powerful motivator for suburban women.
Youngkin played up his opposition to abortion ahead of a highly competitive seven-way Republican nominating convention. And at his victory party in May, he told his supporters: “Friends, together, all of us, we will protect the life of every Virginia child, born and unborn.”
He went quiet on the topic soon after that, declining to say what abortion restrictions he would pursue if elected.
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