Sen. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic nominee for governor, announced the formation of Nurses for Deeds on Thursday in Portsmouth. Sen. Deeds, Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) and retired nurse Anne Rawley spoke about the challenges that face the health care system in Virginia, and the significant differences between Deeds and his opponent on choice and women’s health.
“I’ve worked with both Creigh and Bob McDonnell in the process. And so I can tell you from firsthand experience: Bob McDonnell is not the candidate we want as our next Governor,” said Sen. Lucas. “Not as parents, not for health care workers, and not as Virginians.”
During the event, Sen. Deeds addressed some of the challenges that health-care professionals and facilities face daily.
“Investing in our health care workforce is not just the right thing to do by Virginians—it’s the right thing to do for our economy,” said Deeds. “Health care is the seventh largest industry in the state, accounting for more than a quarter of a million jobs.”
“Poorly-staffed facilities are more likely to shut down and leave town, hurting local industry, workers, patients, and the community as a whole,” Deeds continued. “Adequately staffed facilities, on the other hand, can often serve as the linchpin for the local economy and a guarantee of a high quality of life.”
The event also highlighted the stark contrast between the records of Deeds and McDonnell on women’s health.
“He [Bob McDonnell] sponsored three bills to restrict choice in his first year in Richmond alone,” said Sen. Lucas. “He’s supported manipulative consent laws and tried to limit access to birth control. He’s even supported so-called ‘conscious clauses,’ wherein a pharmacist can not only refuse to fill a birth control prescription—he or she can refuse to return that prescription to be filled elsewhere.”
“These kinds of policies are more than anti-women, anti-choice—they’re anti-health,” said retired nurse, Anne Rawley. “With a creed like this, our students and citizens risk becoming drastically uninformed sexual adults, lacking in safe and accessible options for keeping themselves and their partners and families healthy… As a professional nurse, I can’t in good conscience vote for Bob McDonnell.”
“As governor, I will trust you to make your own decisions about your own lives,” said Deeds. “I have stated throughout my career that I believe these decisions are between a woman, her doctor, and her spiritual advisor. It isn’t the business of the state—Virginia or any other.”
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Chris Graham
