VA Senate passes ‘Right to Contraception Act’ 

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) - For the second year in a row, the Virginia Senate has advanced a proposal to enshrine a person's right to contraception in state law.  The bill, which passed along party lines, says neither the Commonwealth nor any locality may “administer, implement, or enforce any law, rule, regulation, standard, or other provision” that restricts a person's access to contraception.  “The majority of individuals who use contraception, particularly contraceptive medication, use it for essential healthcare to ensure that they are able to function on a daily basis,” State Senator Ghazala Hashmi (D-Richmond) said on the Senate floor on Tuesday.  Hashmi’s bill protects Virginia's access to various types of contraception like IUDs, birth control, emergency contraceptives, and more.  Hashmi says the bill is necessary after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas previously suggested that the court revisit previous rulings finding that Americans have a Constitutional right to contraception.  “After the fall of Roe. vs. Wade, what we heard and saw from one of our Supreme Court justices is that he is ready to revisit the decision, the Griswold decision of 1965 putting access to contraception in jeopardy,” said Hashmi.  All 18 Republicans present voted against the measure with Senator David Suetterlein (R-Roanoke) saying the bill would open up new avenues for Virginians to sue anyone who restricts their access to contraception.  ‘It creates a whole new right to sue and then might be very exciting for attorneys, but that’s not actually what we are trying to do on contraceptives,” said Suetterlein.  Republicans also expressed concerns about whether the bill protects access to abortion pills by mail, something Hashmui says it doesn’t.