Gov. Youngkin's Game of Chicken with Virginia Leftists!
Despite being outnumbered by leftists, social conservatives still scored some major victories for life and family this year during the Virginia General Assembly Session. We predicted that left-wing radicals in control of both chambers of the General Assembly would use a firehose strategy to throw everything at the Governor—making it more difficult to focus on individual bills—and we weren’t wrong:
Gov. Youngkin saw about 1 ,000 bills cross his desk; signing 777, amending 116, and vetoing 153. The media made a big deal out of this, stating that he has vetoed more than any other governor in history. However, to be fair, he probably had more bad incoming bills than most other governors. We could call this legislation session the “Session of Vice”. If there was some kind of sin or vice to glorify, they were pushing it forward.
Despite this, we had still significant victories this session, beginning with the surprise defeat of physician-assisted suicide (PAS). We were deeply concerned that PAS would pass through both chambers, but in the 11th hour, it met an unexpected demise. The PAS legislation would have put doctors and insurance companies in the position to basically prescribe poison pills to people who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness. We know that other governments have abused PAS where it’s legalized, and as Christians, we reject the idea of becoming a society where we only look at human life for its utilitarian purpose instead of its intrinsic value.
The top four other victories we experienced were through the Governor’s veto. One of the biggest wins was his veto of the commercialization of marijuana. These bills, like marijuana and gambling, are backed by high-powered lobbyist firms. We are proud of Governor Youngkin for seeing through the lobbyist firms’ talking points and recognizing that the pot-shop-on-every-corner approach harms our kids and our communities.
Another veto victory was won on parental rights. We covered this particular bill at our Mama Bear Day press conference at the Capitol. We featured parents concerned about their right to weigh in on sexually explicit books being put in front of their kindergartners and other children at school. One parent, Becca, referenced how this bill moving through the House would have had a chilling effect on school boards’ abilities to respond to parents’ concerns about sexually explicit books. We are happy to report the parents’ voices were heard and the Governor vetoed this bill.
It also encouraging to see what we call “shield laws,” among his vetoes. This bill would have broadly shielded abortionists from consequences for their actions, even when they are Virginia abortionists violating the laws of other states. These shield laws would have been a dream come true for an industry that wants absolutely no accountability. Practicing medicine outside the scope of any accountability harms the women, so we thankful that the Governor essentially said, We're not doing this here. Finally, we were pleased he vetoed the commercialized surrogacy bill that would have allowed for exploitation of women’s wombs, targeting vulnerable, lower-income women.
It would be remiss not to mention a couple of major disappointments: Namely, the Governor signed the same-sex marriage law. We appreciate those who let Governor Youngkin know of their disappointment.
Lastly, this General Assembly session also provided a preview of legislation to enshrine unlimited abortion in our Virginia Constitution. This language did not explicitly mention abortion, rather it gave a very sweeping reference to “reproductive freedom”, the abortion industry’s favorite buzzword. Democrats made it clear that they intend to push this forward next year.
We are going to be gearing up soon to equip you with ways to use your voice in the effort to stop the constitutional amendment. There will be more opportunities to talk about that in the weeks and months ahead.