Delegate Kathy Byron (R-Lynchburg) gave an insider’s view of Virginia right-to-life politics at a Zoom fundraiser for the Virginia Society of Human Life (VSHL) on Saturday evening. 100 people tuned in to the event, filling it to capacity. The fundraiser is part of a broader effort within the VSHL to motivate voters for the November election and raise awareness of a likely proposed amendment to Virginia’s constitution coming in 2021.
Byron said the amendment would be “Roe v. Wade on crack,” VSHL President Olivia Turner told The Virginia Star.
Turner said they consider it likely that the pro-choice General Assembly will introduce the amendment soon. “It would not only eliminate all of the remaining standing pro-life laws in Virginia including our parental consent law, but it would also require taxpayer funding of abortions,” Turner said. “It would actually make it impossible to pass any kind of rational or reasonable law in the future, like a ban on abortions after babies can feel pain in the womb, or even passing legislation that would protect babies who might be born after a failed abortion attempt in the later months of pregnancy and prevent us from providing them with appropriate medical care in those circumstances.”
Byron also described how a Virginia agency began sending out unsolicited mailers targeting households with teens, providing information about how to get an abortion without parental permission, according to Turner. “That’s a complete work-around to avoid a protective law that’s been on the books for close to 16 years in Virginia, and saved many many lives, and prevented teenagers from being manipulated by unscrupulous adults,” Turner said.
“[The fundraiser] was successful,” Turner said. “We do believe that people are very strongly responding to the kinds of materials that we’ve been producing this fall. Very often [the public doesn’t] know what’s going on with the pro-abortion agenda-driven legislative activity that we’ve seen in the last year in the General Assembly and that we expect to see next year again. So, it’s very important to us to find messaging that does connect.”
Turner didn’t disclose financial results from the fundraiser, but she said, “From my point of view as president, we really did feel like people connected, responded, and are continuing to connect. ”
People who want to learn more should visit the VSHL website. Turner said that because the VSHL has a political action committee, they’re able to endorse specific candidates. “We’re focusing very strongly on the down-ballot issues in Virginia this year. We really want to see our pro-abortion Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia) removed and put a pro-lifer in there.” Turner added, “Of our 11 [U.S. congressional] districts, seven of them were pro-life congressmen before the last go-around. So this is our goal this year, to regain some of those seats.”
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and the Star News Digital Network. Email tips to [email protected].Â
Abortion is murder