Doctors who oppose Virginia’s abortion amendment gathered in Richmond Friday. They asked voters to not think of President Donald Trump when they enter the voting booth despite the commander and chief’s role in limiting abortion access nationwide.
There are more than 38,000 abortions — medical and surgical — performed in the Commonwealth every year. That’s about the same number of times President Donald Trump is referenced in the Epstein files.
He was also found civilly liable for sexual abuse by a jury in New York.
And it was Trump’s appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade, limiting abortion nationwide. Virginia Democrats say the constitutional amendment currently before voters is needed as it matches the Roe standard.
But Dr. Christina Francis with Virginia Medical Professionals for Women’s Safety said the president’s SCOTUS appointees, and his controversies, shouldn’t impact Virginian’s votes.
“People should not look at this as a political issue," Francis said, flanked by Clarke County Republican Delegate Delores Oates. "We are not here on behalf of any political candidate or political party.”
When asked if Trump's history impacts Virginia Medical Professionals for Women’s Safety's message on the amendment, Francis refused to answer.
But Arlington doctor Kimi Chernoby with The Committee to Protect Health Care, a group that supports Virginia’s abortion amendment, says she’ll be thinking of Trump when she enters the voting booth and hopes other voters do too.
“We could be facing a situation where all of a sudden, across the Commonwealth, we lose access to abortion," Chernoby told Radio IQ. "And so, that's why this amendment is so important.”
And University of Mary Washington political science professor emeritus Stephen Farnsworth says midterm elections are famously linked to the sitting president.
“The Trump administration and Republican efforts to restrict access to abortion has really nationalized the abortion issue,"
Farnsworth said in an interview Friday. "Even though, of course, we’re talking about a state constitutional amendment here in Virginia."
Voting on the abortion amendment runs through Election Day, November 3rd.
