Pro-Choice and in the 1st District of Virginia?
Pro-Choice and in the 1st District of Virginia?
Vote for Leslie Mehta for U.S. Representative
I have been receiving a ton of emails from my U.S. representative the last few days. I like to think it is because he is scared. My current representative in the 1st congressional district of Virginia is Rob Wittman. He has been my representative since 2007. He is “100% pro-life,” in his words, as seen in the statement he posted on June 24, 2022, the day that the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade. He was adopted. That is something he mentions every single time he talks about abortion as if it is some amulet against any criticism of his position. I totally respect his mother’s choice to give birth and then give him up for adoption, but that doesn’t mean he has to impose her choice (if she had a choice) on other women, when he has no idea what it is like to carry a pregnancy and give birth.
I truly believe that if every eligible voter in my district who cares about reproductive freedom knew that Rob Wittman will do what he can to take reproductive rights away from Virginians, then they would vote for the Democratic candidate, Leslie Mehta. This is a person who actually gave birth. This is a woman who actually lost a young child to a rare illness and has significant experience advocating for educational opportunities and medical benefits for children with medical issues due to her daughter’s illness. She has significant experience as a litigator and a civil rights attorney and wants to put her advocacy skills to work for all of her constituents.
My mission with this post is to ensure that if you care about women’s rights, you are voting for someone who cares about them too. And inform your friends and family in the first district of Virginia. The map below shows how far it extends.
Rob Wittman would jump at the chance to vote for a national abortion ban if such a ban comes before the House of Representatives, which it could depending on the make-up of the two houses of Congress and who is in the White House. If you are in the 1st congressional district of Virginia and you vote for Wittman, you are supporting an abortion ban. I am on his email list and every once in a while, he sends out a survey asking what I’m most concerned about and “women’s rights” or “reproductive rights” or even “reproductive health” are not even options on the survey.
You can read his position on abortion from his website and I pasted a screen shot here.
He also has a statement about health care on his website. He doesn’t mention women’s health once. NOT ONCE.
I did a search on Congress.gov for bills related to abortion sponsored or co-sponsored by Rob Wittman since 2007. I came up with 92. He only sponsored two, but co-sponsored 90. The following chart shows how the number of bills grew from 6 in his first congressional term (2007-2008) to sixteen by the term (2021-2022) that included the overturn of Roe. Then, notice, they drop off after Roe, as if it finally occurred to him that Virginians are partial to women being able to control their own bodies and he doesn’t want them to know that he is not.
After Dobbs, he only co-sponsored six. He is trying to downplay his position on abortion, so that voters will think they have nothing to worry about with him. After all, abortion is legal in Virginia. Never mind, that women are coming from all over the south now to get care here because of a decision at the federal level.
Wittman co-sponsored Life at Conception or Right to Life bills sixteen times, but not since April of 2021.
He co-sponsored bills supporting abortion bans at 20 weeks six times, but not since April of 2021. 99% of abortions happen by 20 weeks. However, the ones that happen after 20 weeks are mostly due to an issue with the fetus discovered at the 20 week anatomy scan or due to the health of the mother. These are pregnancies that were very much wanted and demonizing these women only compounds their tragedy.
He supported bills to prevent the FDA from approving any new abortion medications and imposing greater restrictions on the currently approved abortion medication. He co-sponsored two bills to require abortion providers to provide inaccurate information about being able to reverse an abortion after taking the abortion pill. He has a Master’s in Public Health and he promotes legislation to disseminate false health information. These legislative actions should give you an idea of how he would weigh in on any issues related to the abortion pill.
Wittman knows that abortion is a losing issue for Republicans, but if he lays low about abortion and plays the mild-mannered old school conservative who does nice things for Virginians, like policies that help veterans and watermen, then voters might forget that he will support a nationwide abortion ban if he gets the opportunity.
ROB WITTMAN WILL ABSOLUTELY SUPPORT A NATIONAL ABORTION BAN!
Three bills aiming to increase women’s reproductive rights were brought up for a vote in Congress after Roe was overturned in 2022. Wittman voted NO on all of them.
One of these was the Right to Contraception Act. After abortion, banning the right to contraception appears to be the next objective of far-right extremists. That should terrify every man and woman in this country who believe they should have the ability decide when to have children and how many.
If you are in Virginia’s first district, vote for Leslie Mehta. Tell your friends who care about reproductive rights that Rob Wittman does not think women deserve the right to make a decision about their own body and they need to help vote him out.
Here is the link to find out how to vote in Virginia, whether you want to vote early or on Election Day. It is too late to request a ballot by mail, but if you have one, you can still send it in.
If you are in a different district or state, find out who your rep is and what they support. https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
And as always, links to my favorites:
