Open letter to Earle-Sears reflects Va. voters’ shifting sentiments on reproductive health care

Attendees hold signs in Richmond, Virginia on June 24,2024 for a political rally on the second anniversary of the overturn of federal abortion protections. (Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)

As Virginia weighs whether or not to enshrine reproductive health in its constitution, the issue is playing a significant role in the upcoming elections for governor and motivating voters across party lines — including some who say it’s reshaping how they plan to vote this fall. 

That includes Salem-area resident Mauricia Smith, a longtime Republican voter who now plans to support Democrats in this year’s elections. She was among 450 women around the state to sign onto an open letter about how reproductive rights have influenced their decision.

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, marked her opposition to the state’s current reproductive rights constitutional amendment this spring and participated in anti-abortion demonstrations this year. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for governor, has pledged to support Virginians’ access to reproductive health services, including abortion, in vitro fertilization and contraception.

Smith said she knows friends and family who have used in vitro fertilization to have children, and she said she knew a friend who chose to have an abortion after being sexually assaulted. Another friend’s daughter needed surgical intervention to safely manage a miscarriage as well, she said. Both abortion medication and an abortion-adjacent procedure called dilation and curettage are sometimes used to help prevent infection when the body begins to reject a pregnancy. 

“I just remember being so thankful that she was in Virginia and not another state where her life would have been at risk in that situation,” Smith said of the friend’s daughter. “That’s what makes reproductive rights important to me. I think they should be important to everyone.”

Letter spells out some voters’ ‘distrust’ of Earle-Sear’ stance

The open letter, which was addressed to Earle-Sears, was initially drafted by the Democratic Party of Virginia and sent to local party organizers around the state, a spokesperson with DPVA said. 

From there, the letter circulated by word of mouth, racking up signatures and endorsements from 450 women. Smith was among the signers to jointly tell Earle-Sears that she didn’t have their vote because they “can’t trust” her to protect reproductive health. Instead, the signers have vowed to support Spanberger. 

Specifically, the letter points to Earle-Sears’ tie-breaking vote earlier this year on a right-to-contraception bill and a personal note — first reported by The Mercury — she left on Virginia’s in-progress constitutional amendment to enshrine reproductive rights. As lieutenant governor, Earle-Sears is required to sign legislation that passes. When Earle-Sears fulfilled that duty, she also left a note near her signature of the reproductive rights amendment expressing opposition to it. 

“I am morally opposed to this bill; no protection for the child,” Earle-Sears wrote above her signature.

Earle-Sears ‘morally opposed’ to Virginia’s reproductive rights amendment, note shows

Smith framed Earle-Sears’ stance on reproductive rights as extremism — an issue she said should not be partisan. Smith feels “she can’t be trusted” on the issue and it factored into her decision to back Democrats — at least for the time being. 

Abortion has been a key piece of opposition by Republicans for the reproductive rights amendment. But  since it would also enshrine protected access to fertility treatments and contraception, the open letter accuses Earle-Sears of morally opposing “healthcare that Virginia women depend on.”

If the amendment were to fail and Earle-Sears became the next governor, Smith said she wouldn’t trust her to protect reproductive rights. Republicans in the legislature have already demonstrated an array of restrictions or near-total bans they’d support. In 2023, some GOP lawmakers backed life-at-conception bills, while others favored a 15-week limit that lacked fetal anomaly exceptions, which often aren’t diagnosed until after 15 weeks.

Though Earle-Sears has yet to elaborate on her opposition to the amendment, other Republicans have made their positions clear. Their arguments have stemmed from the lack of adding note of existing state or federal laws that outline parental consent for minors or mandatory care for infants when born. 

But a key sticking point for Republicans has been their belief that the amendment could allow abortion to the “moment of birth” — for which infanticide is illegal — or that removing the three-phycsian threshold for approval of later abortions would make the procedure too easy to access.

More access, less cost: Spanberger lays out health care plans if she wins Virginia governorship

When Earle-Sears first ran for lieutenant governor in 2021, she called abortion “genocide” and opposed the procedure in all cases — except when a pregnant person’s life was in danger. But weeks before the election, she scrubbed most anti-abortion language from her campaign website after previously vowing to “do everything in my power” to stop abortions in Virginia. 

While her language about abortion has not been so strongly-worded during her current campaign, she has lent her support to abortion opponents as a featured speaker at the Virginia March For Life. The annual event brings various anti-abortion advocacy groups, religious leaders and thousands of Virginians together.

Earle-Sears’ campaign did not follow through by the time of this publication when asked if she wanted to elaborate further on her opposition to the amendment as it stands or if there were language adjustments to it she might support. Her campaign also did not respond to requests for comment on the open letter. 

Virginia ballot casters’ shifting sentiments on sexual health access 

Though Virginia doesn’t have party registration for voting, Smith shared a screenshot of her voting history through Virginia Department of Elections’ citizen portal that shows she has historically voted for Republicans. 

This year, however, isn’t Smith’s first embracing a Democrat, as she said sometimes certain issues transcend partisanship. Despite voting in a GOP presidential primary in 2008, she eventually backed Democrat Barack Obama later that year — a “man of character,” she said. 

She has never voted for President Donald Trump in his three presidential campaigns, choosing third party or Democratic candidates instead. 

That is, Smith said, because of her frustration with Trump’s grip over the party she most often aligns with on other issues. 

Earlier this month, the GOP majority in Congress —  despite inter-party disagreements — passed the Trump-backed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” by his self-imposed July 4 deadline, a move that the nonpartisan congressional budget office warned would raise the federal deficit by $3.4 trillion. 

Looming changes to Medicaid could eventually make health care access more challenging for an estimated 10 million people nationwide, including reproductive health services. Forthcoming changes to hospital funding mechanisms are also expected to create financial strain and potential cuts to services, hospital associations have warned. 

As states across the political spectrum have approved ballot referendums to constitutionally protect abortions or other reproductive healthcare access, Virginia Democrats are hoping the idea can resonate beyond party lines in the commonwealth. 

That means voters who want to see — or stop —  a ballot referendum by next November, might have this issue top of mind going into this fall’s elections. 

Smith said she hopes voters won’t choose their next governor or state delegate based solely on party affiliation, but instead make their decisions based on the issues that matter most to them.

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