Youngkin guts contraception bill with amendment protecting religious objections

MAGA Gov. Glenn Youngkin lost the 2023 legislative midterms after pledging to roll back abortion rights. On Monday, he doubled down on legislation that would guarantee a right to contraception.

Youngkin has proposed an amendment to the Virginia Right to Contraception Act that would protect the right of doctors, medical staff and private health institutions to lodge a “religious or conscientious objection” to providing “contraception or contraceptive procedures, supplies, or information.”

All he’s doing here is giving Democrats the chance to hammer home the point that MAGA Republicans stand firmly opposed to the basic reproductive rights of millions of women.

“Women across the country are watching anti-choice politicians block access to birth control and outlaw emergency contraception. In response, Virginia leaders should be defending our fundamental freedoms, just as our General Assembly voted to do when it passed the Right to Contraception Act earlier this year,” said Abigail Spanberger, a former Northern Virginia congresswoman who is the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for governor in the 2025 cycle.

“No politician should ever be able to dictate when and whether Virginians have access to contraception. Gov. Youngkin’s decision to gut this legislation leaves the rights of Virginians at risk. As the next governor of Virginia, I will defend the right to access contraception — and should this legislation land on my desk, I will sign it into law,” Spanberger said.

We haven’t seen either Youngkin or the lieutenant governor, MAGA Republican Winsome Earle-Sears, the presumed frontrunner in the GOP governor’s race, weigh in on the latest move by Youngkin on the Right to Contraception Act.

We do know that Earle-Sears, who is facing two challengers from her right flank, “Trump in Heels” former state senator Amanda Chase and college dropout former state delegate Dave LaRock, has signaled support in the past for six-week and 15-week abortion bans.

I wouldn’t expect her to back away from that stance with her facing challenges from the Neanderthal wing of her party.

Youngkin, for his part, is trying to walk the fine line between the Neanderthals and respectability, with a possible run at the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Mark Warner in the 2026 midterms cycle in mind.

“Once again, Glenn Youngkin has demonstrated his extreme agenda. He believes the government should have a say in women’s personal health decisions,” said State Sen. Lamont Bagby, D-Richmond, the new chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia. “By gutting the Right to Contraception Act, he made a choice to prioritize politics over women’s health.

“To be clear, Virginia remains the last bastion in the South for reproductive freedom because Democrats have blocked Youngkin’s dangerous, anti-choice agenda,” Bagby said. “When we elect a governor this November who will sign this bill into law, it won’t just be a victory – it will be a statement that we will not tolerate anyone standing in the way of women’s fundamental freedoms and health care.”