Life
I am pro-life from conception and a supporter of traditional marriage.
In 2003, I enacted HB 1402 to prohibit abortions on minors without their parents’ consent. It angered Virginians that strangers could conduct abortions on their daughters without their permission.
Almost half the Senate Democrats defied their leadership and voted for HB 1402. It passed with three quarters of the vote in the House and Senate. Although news outlets criticized a private letter I sent to each Senator along with an anatomical model of a ten-week old child, they were oddly silent about the dramatic legislative victory that followed. Delegates and Senators backed me overwhelmingly once they understood the science involved.
I was able to garner support from both pro-life and pro-choice legislators on both sides of the aisle. This is the most significant pro-life bill ever enacted in Virginia.