Abortion’s precarious state of play in Virginia

The potential overturning of Roe vs. Wade has thrust abortion to the forefront of the battle for the Virginia state legislature.

Why it issues: Even when Democrats maintain onto their one-seat majority within the state Senate throughout subsequent yr’s election, the get together may nonetheless lose on abortion if one in all their members — the notoriously unpredictable Senator Joe Morrissey — sides with the GOP, Axios Richmond’s Ned Oliver writes.

• Morrissey already co-sponsored a GOP invoice earlier this yr to ban most abortions after 20 weeks.
• “I imagine that there’s a interval when the fetus can really feel ache and I stay open to laws that may forestall an abortion when the fetus is thus far alongside it feels ache,” he tells Axios.

Flashback: Morrissey served three months in jail in 2015 on prices stemming from a relationship along with his then-17-year-old receptionist, whom he later married. He additionally did time greater than a decade earlier, after getting right into a courthouse fistfight with an opposing lawyer whereas serving as the town’s chief prosecutor.

• Morrissey was within the information once more earlier this month after he grew visibly enraged throughout his radio present when the producer pressed him to make clear his place on Roe vs. Wade.

What’s occurring: Morrissey’s abortion stance is fueling curiosity in his challenger within the main, former Delegate Lashrecse Aird, a Democrat from Petersburg.

• “We discuss rather a lot in regards to the brick wall within the Virginia Senate,” Aird tells Axios. “Nicely, that brick wall has an enormous crack in it proper now, and it’s him.”

In the meantime, on the Republican aspect, get together leaders have made it clear they don’t see abortion as a successful challenge in a state the place elections rise and fall in reasonable, suburban districts.

• Governor Glenn Youngkin was secretly recorded on the marketing campaign path final yr saying that he needed to downplay the problem if he needed to win.
• In February, GOP leaders within the Home of Delegates killed their very own 20-week abortion ban invoice, a procedural transfer that protected Republican delegates in swing districts from taking a proper stance on the problem.
• Speaker Todd Gilbert has been silent on abortion since SCOTUS’ draft opinion leaked.

The problem is nonetheless pitting members of the get together’s MAGA wing towards one another.

Delegate Wren Williams just lately attacked Delegate Marie March for a 2019 Fb remark supportive of abortion rights. The lawmakers, each representing elements of southwest Virginia, reside in the identical legislative district below new maps accredited earlier this yr — which means one will lose their seat come the subsequent election.

• “Everybody loves infants and would by no means need to terminate their being pregnant,” March wrote on Fb. “Nevertheless, lots of my associates don’t need Huge Brother deciding what they’ll do with their our bodies and I GET IT!”

March walked again the remark per the Roanoke Occasions, promising to each introduce and help state laws limiting abortion rights.

Williams, a lawyer who represented Trump in one in all his failed election lawsuits, stated in a press release that she ought to drop her bid for the seat.

What’s subsequent: Republicans and Democrats will nominate candidates for the Virginia Home and Senate subsequent summer time, however that timeline may change relying on how a decide guidelines in a pending lawsuit calling for brand spanking new elections this November to make up for redistricting delays.

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