With the nation’s highest court overturning Roe v. Wade, pro-life lawmakers in many states are doing everything possible to protect as many babies as possible from abortion. In Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin says he will “luckily” sign any pro-life law protecting babies’ lives before birth.
Youngkin vowed to sign “every law … to protect life” that reaches his desk at an event with conservative activists last night, according to a Washington Post report.
Youngkin has already said he would sign a bill to ban abortion after 15 weeks — which may be the best protection for babies pro-life advocates can expect from the state legislature. But the Republican governor said he would sign something that accomplishes more.
“Any bill that comes on my desk I will happily and gleefully sign to protect life,” he said at the Family Foundation of Virginia event to celebrate the reverse, Roe.
“My goal is that we get a bill to sign. It won’t be the bill we all want,” he said, adding that he believes “life begins at conception.”
Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter told the Post that a committee is reviewing possible pro-life bills.
“The governor is entrusting the four members charged with writing a consensus-building bill to be presented to the General Assembly in January,” she said. “While we won’t comment on hypothetical matters, the governor is confident the group will produce legislation with bipartisan support.”
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As LifeNews reported, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, holding a 6-3 majority decision in the Dobbs case that “the Constitution does not grant the right to abortion” — allowing states to ban abortions and protect unborn babies. The Supreme Court also ruled 6-3 to uphold Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, allowing states to restrict abortions further and remove the false viability standard.
Chief Justice John Roberts technically voted for the verdict but, in his opinion, disagreed with the reasoning, saying he wanted to keep abortion legal but with a new standard.
Texas and Oklahoma had banned abortions before Roe was destroyed and Missouri became the first state after Roe to protect babies from abortions, and South Dakota became the 2nd. Then Arkansas became the third state to protect babies from abortion, Kentucky became 4th, Louisiana became 5th, Ohio became 6th, Utah became 7th, Oklahoma became 8th, and Alabama became 9th. This week, Mississippi took 10th, S, Southina took 11th, Texas took 12th with its pre-Roe law, and Tennessee took 13th.
Michigan, Wisconsin, and West Virginia have old pro-life laws, but it’s questionable whether they apply and will be enforced.
Ultimately, as many as 26 states could immediately or expeditiously ban abortions and protect babies from certain death for the first time in nearly 50 years.
The 13 states with trigger laws that would effectively ban all or most abortions are: Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
“Abortion poses a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of any state from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey have usurped that authority. We now reject those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives,” Alito wrote.
“Roe was wrong from the start. The reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences,” Alito wrote. “And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have fueled debate and deepened divisions.”
This is a milestone for the Pro-Life movement and our entire nation. After nearly 50 years of staining the moral fabric of our country, Roe v. Wade is no more.
Judges Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Stephen Breyer wrote a joint dissent condemning the decision to allow states to impose “draconian” restrictions on women.
Polls show that Americans support abortion.