McDonnell brings anti-woman agenda to Michigan

McDonnell brings anti-woman agenda to Michigan

Richmond, VA - Governor Bob McDonnell is in Michigan today trying to help Mitt Romney salvage his big for the Republican nomination for president. His trip may be welcome respite given the force of the public outcry and national media attention over the radical and overreaching agenda that he and the Republicans in the legislature, on whose campaigns he spent millions of dollars, have sought to impose on Virginia families.

Two of the most controversial bills currently in the Virginia General Assembly would radically alter a Virginia woman's right to make her own health care decisions. One would require an invasive and medically unnecessary ultrasound before an abortion and the other could outlaw abortion and some forms of FDA-approved birth control by defining "personhood" as beginning at conception.

McDonnell has said he will sign the invasive ultrasound bill but has yet to take a position on the "personhood" legislation. Romney, his travelling partner today, publicly supported similar "personhood" legislation before Mississippi voters rejected it last November, but has yet to publicly state whether he agrees with McDonnell that forcing an unnecessary and invasive vaginal ultrasound on a women is a proper role for government to play.

"With his trip to Michigan on behalf of Mitt Romney today, Governor McDonnell will be bringing his war on women to the national stage," said Democratic Party of Virginia Chairman Brian Moran. "Here in Virginia, we have seen the consequences of the extreme, anti-woman Republican agenda: legislation that would mandate invasive ultrasounds and could even outlaw contraception like the birth control pill. That's why hundreds of women turned out to protest at the Virginia state house today.

"Mitt Romney has already embraced the extreme personhood amendment and stood with the most conservative parts of the Republican base against women's access to contraception. With Governor McDonnell by his side today, Virginians, Michiganders and everyone in between deserves to know whether Mitt Romney stands with him in supporting the invasive ultrasound legislation that has put Virginia at the forefront of the GOP's war on women."

Another prominent Republican figure, former U.S. Senator George Allen, has gone even further than Romney by not only voicing support for Virginia's "personhood" bill but also endorsing the concept of a  "personhood" standard at the federal level. Like Romney, he too has yet to take a position on Governor McDonnell's forcible ultrasound legislation. 

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