NEW: “Earle-Sears ‘morally opposed’ to Virginia’s reproductive rights amendment, note shows”
NEW: “Earle-Sears ‘morally opposed’ to Virginia’s reproductive rights amendment, note shows”
New reporting from the Virginia Mercury found that Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears “noted her personal objection” to Virginia’s proposed amendment protecting reproductive rights in a “handwritten note.”
Sears has repeatedly made clear she supports banning abortion – and just last week said she opposed protecting the right to contraception because to her it’s just a “political agenda.”
This is the second time in two weeks that Sears has been exposed for going out of her way to stress she is “morally opposed” to a bill protecting individual freedoms in Virginia – including protecting marriage equality.
Read More About Sears’ Secret Notes Standing Against Virginian’s Fundamental Freedoms:
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Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears signed Virginia’s in-progress reproductive rights constitutional amendment, but noted her personal objection to it in a handwritten note on the bill.
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As president of the Senate, she is legally required to sign bills that the legislature passes but she doesn’t have to add any comment to her signatures.
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Documents obtained by The Mercury show her explanation for why she is against Virginia’s effort to protect reproductive rights like abortion, in vitro fertilization and contraception access in Virginia’s Constitution.
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“I am morally opposed to this bill; no protection for the child,” she wrote above her signature.
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It is the second known message Earle-Sears has penned on a bill she signed but disagreed with — the first being her note of objection scrawled on a bill last year that would prohibit officials from denying marriage licenses to same-sex or interracial couples, as The Virginia Scope first reported.
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It is also one of the clearest signals Earle-Sears has sent concerning her views on abortion and reproductive health care since beginning her campaign for governor.
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A Sears campaign representative the Mercury reached Thursday afternoon said Earle-Sears had no comment on the matter.
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While Earle-Sears’ appearance as a keynote speaker at the Virginia March For Life has already solidified her stance in opposition to proposals that would protect abortion access in Virginia, she’s yet to speak in depth about where she may hold nuanced views on reproductive matters.
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Early in her 2021 campaign for liuetenant governor, Earle-Sears had called abortion “genocide” and objected to the procedure in all instances, except for ones that could save the life of the pregnant person. Just over a month before the 2021 elections, she’d scrubbed anti-abortion messaging from her campaign website where she’d vowed to “do everything in my power” to stop abortions in Virginia.
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