March for Life draws thousands to Richmond to rally against abortion

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Over 5,000 people hit the pavement to “March for Life” and rally against abortion at the Virginia State Capitol Wednesday.

This comes after Senate Democrats shut down Governor Glenn Youngkin’s push for a 15-week abortion ban.

A crowd took to the streets for the first Richmond March for Life since the overturning of Roe vs. Wade.

“This is a great statement by a lot of people, young people, older people, folks from all walks of life, to demonstrate the fact that we stand to protect life,” Gov. Youngkin said. “I’m just so encouraged by it, so thank you, everybody.”

Gov. Youngkin made a statement to Senate Democrats who have thwarted his attempt at a 15-week abortion ban for Virginians.

“All they want to do is press forward with legislation to change our constitution to make abortion on demand, anytime, anywhere. They’re out of touch with Virginians, and that’s why we’re here today,” Gov. Youngkin declared.

On the other side of the aisle, the Executive Director of Planned Parenthood, Jamie Lockhart, fired back.

“I think the governor is more interested in appealing to national anti-abortion extremists than he is to Virginians because we know that Virginians support safe, legal abortion,” Lockhart said.

Lockhart says she’s encouraged by the efforts of Senate Democrats to protect the right to abortion.

Current law in Virginia allows abortions through the second trimester, which is about 26 weeks.

“It doesn’t appear that any abortion bans are advancing in the Virginia General Assembly this session,” Lockhart said. “We know that Virginians don’t want to see abortion banned and that Virginians largely do not want political interference in personal medical decisions.”

Several pro-life activists, church leaders, school students and Attorney General Jason Miyares were in attendance, traveling from near and far to join the march.

“It’s sad that a child’s life has become a political issue when really it is a moral issue,” one of the attendees, Debbie Bishop, said. “It’s unsettling that lawmakers have the right to decide if a child can have its life or not.”

Overall, the event was entirely peaceful, without any counter-protests.

Democrats control the Senate, so with divided power, abortion legislation from either side is likely to fail.

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