Governor Youngkin running $1.4M abortion political ad

RICHMOND, Va. (WVIR) - Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s political action committee is kicking out some big money to highlight his stance on abortion.

Roughly $1.4 million is being spent for a 30-second political advertisement. The ad highlights Republicans’ stance on an issue both parties are focusing on for this November’s election.

“They’re basically taking a Democratic issue, or an issue that has gotten more mileage on the Democratic side, and they’re elevating it up to one of the most important issues,” J. Miles Coleman with the University of Virginia Center for Politics said.

The ad calls out Democrats for saying Republicans want a ban on abortion. A direct quote from the advertisement states, “There is no ban. Virginia Republicans support a reasonable 15-week limit, with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.”

Virginia law allows abortions for the first 26 weeks with no limitation, including rare exceptions later.

Coleman says Republicans, who already have a thin majority in the State Senate, need to gain control of the State House as well if they want to change abortion laws.

“Perhaps they are taking this as an opportunity to say, ‘We are the reasonable ones. It’s the Democrats who don’t have their house in order,’” Coleman said, “It would not surprise me at all that for this, you know, the most expensive legislative election in Virginia history.”

The ad is already up and running and will continue to air through Election Day.

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