“I think we should continue to talk about it,” Youngkin told reporters in brief comments before the march got underway. Behind him, activists from across the state held signs with slogans such as “Pray to end abortion” and “Virginia is for life.”
Youngkin, who also participated in the annual event last year, declined to express his views on several bills aimed at protecting abortion rights that are making their way to his desk from the Democratic-controlled General Assembly.
“As I’ve said on all legislation, the General Assembly is working their process now and I will review every bill. That’s my job,” he said.
With an electorate motivated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade abortion rights, Democrats flipped control of the House of Delegates and protected their majority in the Senate last year after campaigning heavily against Youngkin’s proposal for a ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Virginia law allows abortion through the second trimester — about 26 weeks — and in the third trimester if three doctors agree the procedure is necessary.
Asked whether he thought it was a political mistake for Republicans to run last year on a 15-week abortion restriction, Youngkin said, “No, I firmly believe that this idea that we can come together and recognize that there is a place that Virginians can agree on is real.”
He repeated the Republican talking point heard often on the campaign trail that Democrats want to allow abortions past the point of birth. “I do believe that the aspiration to extend abortion all the way up through and including birth is so disconnected with what Virginians believe,” Youngkin said. “And we’ve got to find a place to come together, and I’ll continue to work for it.”
Democrats have not advocated abortion after birth — which would amount to infanticide — but opened themselves up to the charge several years ago when then-Gov. Ralph Northam (D), a pediatric neurologist, made statements on a radio show about end-of-life care for a baby born with fatal abnormalities.
In practice, abortions at any point in the third trimester are extremely rare in Virginia and only occur in cases of severe medical issues. According to statistics from the Virginia Department of Health, of the more than 156,000 abortions that took place in the state in the decade before 2022, a total of between four and 20 were in the third trimester. The number is not precise because state law prevents disclosing specific numbers of abortions in a year if there are five or fewer, for privacy purposes.
After his remarks to reporters, Youngkin set off at the head of a column of hundreds of demonstrators — maybe a few thousand — stretching the length of Capitol Square.
Inside the Capitol, the House approved a Senate bill that would prevent extraditing doctors who perform legal abortions in Virginia on patients from states where the procedure is illegal. Three Republicans joined every Democrat in support. The House also approved a Senate bill, on a party-line vote, that prohibits search warrants for menstrual health data stored on computers.
Democrats were eager to highlight Youngkin’s opposition to abortion.
“This is the reality that we fought for in November, what women said they wanted — that they did not want people in Richmond dictating their health care,” Del. Candi Mundon King (D-Prince William) told reporters. “My message to the governor is simple: Pro-life means pro-women. … If his values are really pro-life, he will think about those women and make sure they have access to reproductive care.”
