Pro-life group spending $1.5M on Virginia legislative elections

A pro-life grassroots advocacy organization is spending more than $1.5 million on the upcoming state legislative races in Virginia to support candidates vowing to help Republicans pass a 15-week abortion ban.

In a statement released Friday, the national pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America announced that its partner organization Women Speak Out Virginia launched the $1.5 million campaign to support Republican General Assembly candidates in Virginia.

The campaign will include “digital ads, voter contact mail and phone outreach to expose the stark contrast between Democratic candidates who stand for no limits, all-trimester abortions and Republicans who commit to eliminate elective late-term abortions in the state.”

In this year’s election, all 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates and all 40 seats in the Virginia Senate are on the ballot.

“Hundreds of lives each year depend on pro-life Virginians showing up on Nov. 7 and casting their ballots for Republican candidates,” said SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Voters have the opportunity to stop the Democrats’ agenda of no-limits abortion up to the 40th week and even letting babies who survive abortions die.”

Dannenfelser contends that Virginians are “compassionate,” saying that over 60% support Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the Virginia GOP’s efforts to prohibit abortions at 15 weeks gestation, which Senate Democrats are blocking.

“Candidates across this country should take note of how Republicans in Virginia are leading on life by going on offense, calling out the lies of the abortion lobby and exposing their opponents as the true extremists when it comes to abortion,” Dannenfelser said. 

The data about Virginians’ position on abortion cited by Dannenfelser comes from a poll conducted in January by WPA Intelligence on behalf of SBA Pro-Life America and the Virginia Family Foundation. The survey, which sampled the opinions of 519 likely voters between Jan. 3 and 5, found that 61% of Virginians support a measure that would ban abortions after 15 weeks gestation while containing exceptions in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. The poll includes an error margin of ±4.3%.

The poll measured support for a 15-week abortion ban at 64% among independents, 55% among Democrats, 56% among women, and 60% among self-described pro-choice voters. At the same time, the survey found that 65% of Virginians opposed allowing abortion up until the moment of birth. 

Democrats currently control the Virginia Senate, while Republicans have a majority in the Virginia House of Delegates. Should Republicans win control of the Virginia Senate and maintain control of the Virginia House of Delegates, their control of the Virginia governorship would give them complete control of the state government and make it likely that the state would join a long list of others that have implemented pro-life protections.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America has compiled a list of states that have enacted strong pro-life protections following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which determined that the U.S. Constitution does not contain a right to abortion.

Specifically, Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin have near-total bans on abortion from the moment of conception. 

Meanwhile, South Carolina and Georgia have heartbeat bills in effect that ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, usually at around six weeks gestation. Nebraska and North Carolina currently ban abortions after 12 weeks, while Florida has a 15-week abortion ban in effect. Heartbeat bills are currently in litigation in Ohio and Iowa, while nine-month protections are on hold because of court challenges in Arizona, Utah and Wyoming.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America estimates that the pro-life laws currently in effect will save approximately 181,149 babies from abortion on an annual basis. 

A July poll of 804 adults living in Virginia from Virginia Commonwealth University found that 47% of respondents wanted Republicans to control the House of Delegates, while 41% preferred Democrats. When asked which party they wanted to control the Senate, 44% said Democrats, while another 44% indicated that they favored Republicans. 

A poll of 1,181 registered voters conducted from Oct. 11-16 by The Washington Post in conjunction with George Mason University’s Schar School of Government showed 47% of voters would vote for the Democrat in their local House of Delegates election compared to 45% who would support for the Republican candidate.

A survey of 800 likely voters by Christopher Newport University conducted between Sept. 28 and Oct. 11 found that 42% of respondents would support the Democrat in this year’s elections, while 41% would pick the Republican. 

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