SOUND THE ALARM: Virginia Republicans Caught Hiding Their Extreme Anti-Abortion Views
In case you missed it, Virginia Republican state delegates have been caught trying to hide their extreme and unpopular anti-abortion views from voters. In key battleground districts across the Commonwealth, EMILYs List-endorsed women Jessica Anderson (HD-71), Leslie Mehta (HD-73), Nicole Cole (HD-66), and Stacey Carroll (HD-64) are running to protect reproductive freedom against Republican incumbents Amanda Batten, Mark Earley Jr., Bobby Orrock, and Paul Milde. After spending years voting to restrict access to reproductive care and signing extremist pledges to support abortion bans with no exceptions for rape or incest, these same Republicans are now pretending their records don’t exist.
“Republicans can scrub their websites all they want, but Virginians know the truth,” Yari Aquino, senior director of campaign communications for EMILYs List, told The Virginia Independent.“Amanda Batten and her allies have spent years trying to ban abortion — even without exceptions — criminalize doctors and restrict birth control. Now Virginia Republicans are lying to voters because they know how toxic their anti-choice agenda is. With reproductive freedom on the ballot, Virginians won’t be fooled by their desperate attempts to rewrite history.”
Read the full article here.
Virginia Republican delegates scrub anti-abortion positions from their websites
The Virginia Independent
By Josh Israel, 10/10/25
In the 2023 elections, Democrats regained a majority in Virginia’s House of Delegates after emphasizing their commitment to reproductive rights. Two years later, several Republican incumbents in competitive House districts are trying to soften or hide their anti-abortion views on their campaign websites as they seek reelection in the Nov. 4 elections.
[…]
Amanda Batten (71st District)
In 2023, Batten’s issues page included a section under the heading “Life”: “I firmly believe in the sanctity of human life, and I will steadfastly support efforts to ensure Virginia protects its most vulnerable citizens throughout all stages of life. All lives are valuable and of equal worth. Respect for life is the cornerstone of our society and the foundation for human decency.”
That language does not appear on her current website, which contains no mention of the issues of abortion or reproductive rights.
Batten signed a Students for Life of America pledge to “100 percent support pro-life policy” in 2021. The group says on its website: “Because I agree … that human life begins at conception, I believe all life should be protected from that very first moment. All preborn children must be protected from the violence of abortion regardless of how they came to be, if they are considered viable, or whether they are proven to feel pain. All human beings are deserving of human rights.”
On Oct. 6, the Virginia Mercury reported that Batten supports abortion ban exceptions for incest, rape, viability, and life of the mother.
Batten did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
Democratic challenger Jessica Anderson supports the constitutional amendment.
[…]
Mark Earley Jr. (73rd District)
Earley’s 2023 issues page included a section titled “Life”: “Every human life is worthy of respect, period. Whether the child in the womb, the orphan, or the elderly, Mark holds to a consistent ethic that every human life is sacred. Recognizing and defending human life is fundamental to our society. It is on which every other principle rests. This is why Mark is 100% pro-life. Mark will never shrink from the defense of all human life, especially children in the womb.”
That language and section are not on his current page.
Earley did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
Democratic challenger Leslie Mehta supports the constitutional amendment.
[…]
Paul Milde (64th District)
Milde’s 2017 campaign website said, “I will support efforts to defend our religious liberties and to protect the right to life from conception through natural death.”
The “Defending life” portion of his 2023 issues page falsely accused Democrats of favoring abortion “up to and including the moment of birth” and said: “Virginia should not have abortion laws emulating China and North Korea. Paul Milde is 100% Pro-Life and will always fight against these extremist attempts to diminish the God-given right to Life.”
This year, that section includes the language of the 2023 version, omits the last sentence, and adds: “Paul Milde supports Governor Youngkin’s proposal to permit abortions during the first 15 weeks of pregnancy, allowing exceptions later in the pregnancy in cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is endangered. And because Paul Milde is pro-life, he supports the ‘Born Alive Infant Act,’ which would require life-sustaining care for infants born alive.”
Milde did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
Democratic challenger Stacey Carroll supports the constitutional amendment.
[…]
Bobby Orrock (66th District)
Orrock’s 2023 House campaign page said: “Bobby is 100% pro-life, and believes in protecting the unborn by supporting parental notification for minors who seek abortions, opposing state funding of abortions and partial-birth abortions, and in 2017 was co-patron of a bill that would have halted the abortion of babies so developed that they can feel pain.”
His current page says: “Bobby recognizes that there are two lives to be considered in establishing any abortion policy. He supports Governor Youngkin’s 15 week ban on abortion, with certain exceptions, which would make it illegal to abort a child when they are able to feel pain. Bobby opposes the current proposed Abortion Amendment that would make it legal to abort an unborn child up until the moment of birth in Virginia.”
Orrock voted for a 2012 bill that would have given full legal rights to fertilized eggs and fetuses “from the moment of conception,” effectively banning virtually all abortions.
He also signed the Students for Life pledge in 2021, according to the group.
[…]
Democratic challenger and Spotsylvania County School Board member Nicole Cole supports the constitutional amendment.
###
EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, works to elect Democratic pro-choice women up and down the ballot and across the country with a goal of fighting for our rights and our communities. Over 40 years, EMILYs List has raised nearly $950 million to help Democratic women win competitive elections by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running one of the most impactful independent expenditure operations for Democrats, and turning out women voters to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country’s first woman as vice president, 192 women to the House, 29 to the Senate, 20 governors, and over 1,600 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. Visit www.emilyslist.org for more information.
