Protect Abortion Rights? Virginia Democrats' Vacation Plans Get in the Way.

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Times

Democrats have less than a month left controlling Virginia before Republicans take over the House of Delegates and the governor’s mansion. With the clock ticking, many in the party want to seize what they see as a fleeting opportunity: protecting abortion rights by codifying them into state law.

But Democratic leaders in the State Senate have dismissed the idea — and not on policy grounds or over concerns about political messaging. Several of the chamber’s members don’t want to change their vacation plans.

One senator is traveling in Africa. Others are in Europe. And the majority leader is headed to Hawaii.

“They’re not going to be able to get back; flights are booked this time of year,” the majority leader, Richard L. Saslaw, said in an interview from California, where he was en route to the Aloha State. The state’s General Assembly does not allow proxy or remote voting, and Democrats’ paper-thin majority in the State Senate requires all members to be present to pass contentious legislation.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/17/us/politics/virginia-democrats-abortion.html

[aocommunalpunch]

1. This general attitude is why that which should be done

just fucking won’t. People just don’t care enough. American must mean “not my monkey, not my circus” in some damn language.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

2. Super helpful that this is in the New York Times and will be widely read ...

Well done, all around.

[rso]

3. Virginia

At least, democrats will maintain control of the State Senate at least until Jan. 2024, which means that Republicans will not be able to pass restrictive abortion laws in any event.

[Polybius]

5. I thought there were elections in 2022

[rso]

8. Virginia

Virginia State Senate elections are in Nov. 2023.

[Polybius]

10. Thanks

Good to know!

[AleksS]

4. And you can bet 100% of the repugs will show up.

They’re fascist, hateful, racist, and deplorable, but their work ethic is commendable.

[dsc]

6. this is disgraceful

Honestly, this alone would be enough for me to vote for a primary challenger. You literally will have women die because of this utter, complete, and total selfishness.

[benfranklin1776]

21. Precisely.

If the issue is important enough, and this one is, then engage in a little SELF SACRIFICE like all the people who have advocated for this issue and others like civil and labor rights. They didn’t have the luxury of taking vacations.

[Historic NY]

7. Traveling to the inflame world of Covid and its vairants...

kinda says we're stupid.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

9. I hope they come back,

I hope they find a box of coat hangers on their doorsteps.

[PlanetBev]

11. Democrats are so short sighted. This is typical of their complacency

They could have taken care of this awhile back. But they always wait until the house is engulfed in flames.

[Omaha Steve]

12. Kick

[FBaggins]

13. Protect abortion rights how?

What would change in VA if Roe is overturned?

[NurseJackie]

14. No opportunity to take a big steaming dump on Democrats is ever missed.

For people who subscribe to this anti-Democrat philosophy, their theme song is likely: 🎵 "You've got to ex-agg-erate the negative... and ig-nore the positive!" 🎵

Articles and posts like this serve no good purpose. It's just part of the nonstop stream of shit that ends up suppressing voter turnout and support for Democrats.

[BradAllison]

18. What's your definition of "overturned"?

States can codify their own laws protecting it. Right now.

But then lawmakers would have to take a stand. And why do that when you can pass the buck to "the courts"?

If you're somehow saying SCOTUS will declare it murder, I don't see the pathway. I'm sure they'll try eventually.

[FBaggins]

19. The standard one

There’s no chance that the court will replace Roe with an anti-Roe (e.g., declaring abortion to be unconstitutional) - but they might overturn the existing precedent.

I’m not aware of any anti-choice law in Virginia that would suddenly return the state to abortion being illegal- so I’m not sure what change is proposed here.

The closest I can come is a generalized fear that republicans will pass new laws (ignoring the fact that we still control the state senate) restricting abortion. But there aren’t any laws that we could pass now that would impact that.

If it were a blue state that still had an abortion ban on the books that would suddenly swing back into place if Roe falls, that would be one thing. But states can’t “codify Roe” in a way that blocks future state legislation

Congress could do something like that - but we aren’t close to having enough votes to even try. In fact, it would make all other efforts more likely to fail.

[BradAllison]

22. "I'm not aware of any anti-choice law in Virginia that would suddenly return the state to"

"abortion being illegal- so I’m not sure what change is proposed here."


Yeah, that's funny......Republican move fast unlike another party. Hell, the Trump court barely waited a year to go full bible thump after all the Susan Collins types insisting "liberals calm down nothing will happen with that it's the law of the land" bullshit.

But I'm reassured you think a thread is still in place. /s

[FBaggins]

23. If there was a point in there... it escaped me

It seems to be saying that just because Virginia doesn’t currently have any such laws, we can’t take for granted that republicans won’t quickly enact one.

The problem with that theory (apart from the fact that we still control the senate) is that there are no laws that we can pass (while we still control the state government) that could block that type of law.

[BradAllison]

24. Hence the thin thread. n/m

[karynnj]

15. A possibility of a change to the law now or after Younkin is in

The Senate is said to be 22 to 19 and one Democrat is against abortion. In mentioning that there are moderates, I wonder if the pro choice people are positive that vacations aside, they have the numbers. It is later mentioned that the Republicans could change the existing law when they come in, but how could that happen unless they can get a majority in the Senate.

The Senate stays the same. Is it possible that NEITHER change could pass?

[maxrandb]

16. Right, it's the Democrats fault

and not those that didn't bother to vote in November.

Seems if people gave a shit, they would have shown up and solidified the Dem majority. In that case, we wouldn't have to worry about vacation plans, or last minute scrambles to protect a right that enough people didn't vote to protect.

It's the same with folks complaining about Dems not doing enough.

It's like giving Superman a necklace of Kryptonite, and then bitching that he didn't stop the train that's about to run over you.

[madville]

20. It won't prevent Republicans from doing anything restrictive in the future

It wouldn’t prevent Republicans from passing more restrictive abortion laws if they have the votes in the future because they could also simply reverse this at the same time, but by prioritizing vacations over a potential vote on the issue the optics are certainly terrible regardless.