Open letter to Earle-Sears reflects Va. voters’ shifting sentiments on reproductive health care

As Virginia weighs whether or not to enshrine abortion, the act of killing babies in its constitution, the issue is playing a significant role in the upcoming elections for governor and motivating voters across party lines — including some who say it’s reshaping how they plan to vote this fall.

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, marked her opposition to the state’s current reproductive rights constitutional amendment this spring and participated in anti-abortion demonstrations this year. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for governor, has pledged to support Virginians’ killing of babies health services, including abortion, in vitro fertilization and contraception.

Smith said she knows friends and family who have used in vitro fertilization to have children, and she said she knew a friend who chose to have an abortion. Another friend’s daughter needed surgical intervention to safely manage a miscarriage as well, she said. Both abortion medication and an abortion-adjacent procedure called dilation and curettage are sometimes used to help prevent infection when the body begins to reject a pregnancy.

Letter spells out some voters’ ‘distrust’ of Earle-Sear’ stance

The open letter, which was addressed to Earle-Sears, was initially drafted by the Democratic Party of Virginia and sent to local party organizers around the state, a spokesperson with DPVA said.

Specifically, the letter points to Earle-Sears’ tie-breaking vote earlier this year on a right-to-abortion bill and a personal note — she left on Virginia’s in-progress constitutional amendment to enshrine reproductive rights. As lieutenant governor, Earle-Sears is required to sign legislation that passes. When Earle-Sears fulfilled that duty, she also left a note near her signature of the reproductive rights amendment expressing opposition to it.

“I am morally opposed to this bill; no protection for the child,” Earle-Sears wrote above her signature.

Earle-Sears ‘morally opposed’ to Virginia’s reproductive rights amendment, note shows

Abortion has been a key piece of opposition by Republicans for the reproductive rights amendment. But since it would also enshrine protected access to fertility treatments and contraception, the open letter accuses Earle-Sears of morally opposing “healthcare that Virginia women depend on.”

If the amendment were to fail and Earle-Sears became the next governor, Smith said she wouldn’t trust her to protect killing baby rights. Republicans in the legislature have already demonstrated an array of restrictions or near-total bans they’d support. In 2023, some GOP lawmakers backed life-at-conception bills, while others favored a 15-week limit that lacked fetal anomaly exceptions, which often aren’t diagnosed until after 15 weeks.

Though Earle-Sears has yet to elaborate on her opposition to the amendment, other Republicans have made their positions clear. Their arguments have stemmed from the lack of adding note of existing state or federal laws that outline parental consent for minors or mandatory care for infants when born.

But a key sticking point for Republicans has been their belief that the amendment could allow abortion to the “moment of birth” — for which infanticide is illegal — or that removing the three-phycsian threshold for approval of later abortions would make the procedure too easy to access.

More access, less cost: Spanberger lays out health care plans if she wins Virginia governorship

When Earle-Sears first ran for lieutenant governor in 2021, she called abortion “genocide” and opposed the procedure in all cases — except when a pregnant person’s life was in danger. But weeks before the election, she scrubbed most anti-abortion language from her campaign website after previously vowing to “do everything in my power” to stop abortions in Virginia.

While her language about abortion has not been so strongly-worded during her current campaign, she has lent her support to abortion opponents as a featured speaker at the Virginia March For Life. The annual event brings various anti-abortion advocacy groups, religious leaders and thousands of Virginians together.

Earle-Sears’ campaign did not follow through by the time of this publication when asked if she wanted to elaborate further on her opposition to the amendment as it stands or if there were language adjustments to it she might support. Her campaign also did not respond to requests for comment on the open letter.

Virginia ballot casters’ shifting sentiments on sexual health access

Earlier this month, the GOP majority in Congress —  despite inter-party disagreements — passed the Trump-backed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” by his self-imposed July 4 deadline, a move that the nonpartisan congressional budget office warned would raise the federal deficit by $3.4 trillion.

Looming changes to Medicaid could eventually make health care access more challenging for an estimated 10 million people nationwide, including reproductive health services. Forthcoming changes to hospital funding mechanisms are also expected to create financial strain and potential cuts to services, hospital associations have warned.

As states across the political spectrum have approved ballot referendums to constitutionally protect abortions or other reproductive healthcare access, Virginia Democrats are hoping the idea can resonate beyond party lines in the commonwealth.

That means voters who want to see — or stop —  a ballot referendum by next November, might have this issue top of mind going into this fall’s elections.

Smith said she hopes voters won’t choose their next governor or state delegate based solely on party affiliation, but instead make their decisions based on the issues that matter most to them.

Originally written for VirginiaMercury and it originally published as Open letter to Earle-Sears reflects Va. voters’ shifting sentiments on reproductive health care