Youngkin vetoes contraception, Confederate tax exemption bills, signs other bipartisan measures 

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Governor Glenn Youngkin has taken action on several controversial bills passed by the General Assembly earlier this year. 

Youngkin vetoed measures that Democrats called the “Right to Contraception Act.” 

“He’s way out of the mainstream on this one,” Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) told 8News. “Big time.” 

The bills would have protected Virginians' access to various types of contraception. 

However, Youngkin vetoed the bill, saying it didn’t “include adequate conscience clause protections for health care providers.”

Additionally, Youngkin said the bill could potentially subject “parents, political subdivisions, and medical professionals to litigation” if they inhibit someone's access to contraception.

“Contraception is something that probably 70-80% of Virginians agree that women should have complete, unfettered access to. It’s about women's ability to control their future, their destiny, their careers, and their reproductive health care,” Surovell said.

Youngkin also vetoed a bill that would have stripped certain Confederate organizations of their tax-exempt status. 

Currently, groups like the United Daughters of the Confederacy aren’t required to pay certain property taxes. 

Youngkin vetoed the bill, saying, “Narrowly targeting specific organizations to gain or lose such tax exemptions sets an inappropriate precedent.”

“Virginia moved past a lot of these issues a few years ago when we went through the whole statutes controversy, and I think most of us sort of moved on from this, but the Governor continues to do these vetoes which I think are more political and more about his political future than they are where Virginians currently stand on these kinds of issues,” Surovell said.

Youngkin also signed several bipartisan bills into law, including one to limit how much time minors under 16 years of age can spend on social media, and another bill to hold fentanyl dealers accountable if the drugs they sell lead to an overdose death.