Democrats have less than a month left controlling Virginia before Republicans take over the House of Delegates and the governors 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 chambers members dont want to change their vacation plans.
One senator is traveling in Africa. Others are in Europe. And the majority leader is headed to Hawaii.
Theyre 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 states 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.
As abortion rights stand on a national precipice, with the Supreme Court likely to roll back or overturn Roe v. Wade next year, Democrats have issued dire warnings about the potential consequences, which could include at least 22 states moving swiftly to ban or severely restrict abortion access. The partys options are limited at the federal and state levels, but many of its lawmakers have vowed to do whatever they can to protect the right to an abortion.
Yet as the intraparty dispute in Virginia shows, the partys leaders are often wary about confronting the issue head-on. Congressional Democrats have been unable to pass legislative proposals to protect abortion federally, and President Biden has yet to utter the word abortion publicly.
Many lawmakers in the party, as they continue to grapple with the pandemic and economic uncertainty, seem unwilling to prioritize abortion rights to the degree that some Democrats believe is necessary given the threats from the Supreme Court and conservative state legislatures.
In Virginia, where Gov. Ralph Northam has long been a champion of abortion rights, Democrats 21-to-19 majority in the State Senate includes moderates and one member who opposes abortion rights.
But beyond abortion politics, there is a split in Richmond between younger and more activist Democrats in the State House, and Senate Democrats who adhere more to the old Virginia way of doing state business. They are less willing to embrace extraordinary measures that go beyond the states regular legislative sessions, which are held only at the beginning of each year and are finished for 2021.
Sally Hudson, a Democratic delegate from Charlottesville, said she worried that the administration of Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, would roll back expansions of reproductive health care access, like the abortion pills that became available by mail in the state in October.
Weve got two years to do our job each term, and I dont know why we wouldnt use all the time to do our jobs during that term, Ms. Hudson said. If not for Roe, for what?
Abortion rights activists say the situations in Virginia and Washington underscore a lack of true commitment from Democrats, who have spent years campaigning on preserving the constitutional right to an abortion.