Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears just voted herself into a political corner on the right to contraception issue.
Earle-Sears, who has a clear path to the Republican nomination for governor in the 2025 cycle, cast a tie-breaking vote on Tuesday that would have killed SB1105, legislation introduced by Richmond Democrat Ghazala F. Hashmi that would establish “a right to obtain contraceptives and engage in contraception,” per the bill’s description on the Virginia General Assembly website.
The bill was brought back up for a second vote through a unanimous reconsideration motion, and on the second try, it passed 21-18.
The bill has a tougher hurdle than Earle-Sears to climb – it’s hard to imagine the Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, signing this kind of legislation if it gets to his desk, given that Youngkin is reportedly considering a run at U.S. Sen. Mark Warner in the 2026 cycle.
But talking about hurdles – it may be the case that you can’t win a Republican nomination by voting to protect the right to contraception, but supermajorities of independents and Democrats do, and you can guess that Abigail Spanberger, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for governor, is going to run the Earle-Sears tie-breaking vote into the ground.
“Virginians deserve a governor who will defend their reproductive freedoms – not pretend that threats to their rights aren’t real. When this legislation comes across my desk as governor, I will sign the right to contraception into law,” Spanberger said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
Remember here that Youngkin blundered himself into losing Republican control of the House of Delegates in the 2023 cycle when he took an early post-Dobbs victory lap, indicating that he would sign abortion-restriction legislation if legislators could get a bill to his desk.
“Virginia is the only state in the South that hasn’t passed further restrictions on women’s reproductive healthcare since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, but we don’t know what the next attacks on our fundamental rights will be. Over the past two and a half years, we’ve seen how the Dobbs decision opened the door for renewed attacks on birth control and emergency contraception in states across the country,” Spanberger said.
“As a proud mom of three girls, I find it unacceptable that some politicians believe they’re entitled to a say in families’ personal medical decisions. I believe in Virginians’ fundamental right to privacy, and I believe we must make sure that right is protected for future generations. Today, the Senate of Virginia took a real step to do just that. I want to thank Sen, Hashmi and every legislator who has continued to stand up for Virginians’ fundamental rights,” Spanberger said.
Video: Earle-Sears puts herself in a political pickle
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Chris Graham
