By Staff
Republican Winsome Earle-Sears may have promised to support “what the majority of Virginians want” when it comes to abortion, but her Democratic opponent for the governor’s mansion, Abigail Spanberger, says the evidence says otherwise.
Abigail Spanberger’s campaign released a new ad Tuesday morning including sound bites and newspaper excerpts of Earle-Sears contradicting the stance she took at her one and only debate with Spanberger earlier this month.
With Election Day just two weeks away, the Spanberger campaign is hoping to rally voters in the last state in the South without an abortion ban in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. And it could very well pay off, considering the majority of Virginians support preserving the state’s access to abortion.
“What Sears says about abortion is disturbing,” a narrator says in the new Spanberger ad, shared exclusively with The Daily Progress before it went public Tuesday.
The ad cites a Jan. 22, 2021, story in the Winchester Star in which Earle-Sears told the newspaper she supports outlawing abortion in Virginia unless the woman’s life is at risk.
“Sears wants a near-total ban with no exceptions for rape or incest,” the narrator says. “And she talks about violence against those who disagree with her.”
What plays next is a sound bite from a May 12, 2022, interview with Richmond radio host-turned-Republican nominee for lieutenant governor John Reid.
“Murder is murder,” she tells Reid, “and one day it is going to be your turn.”
“Talking about the murder of those who support abortion rights?” the narrator asks in an incredulous tone.
The direct quotes from Earle-Sears clearly contradict her stated position when she debated Spanberger on Oct. 9.
At the debate at Norfolk State University, moderator Deanna Allbrittin of WRIC ABC 8 News noted that Earle-Sears had previously backed limits on abortion after six weeks and after 15 weeks.
Asked where she stood, Earle-Sears declined to specify the abortion restrictions she would advocate for as governor.
“The commonwealth needs to come together and figure out where it wants to be,” Earle-Sears said. “It’s not going to be my view. It’s going to be a view of the majority.”
The view of the majority of Virginians is clear.
Roughly 6 in 10 Virginian voters in the 2024 presidential election said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to the Associated Press’ VoteCast, a survey of interviews with registered voters.
And 62% of Virginians polled by Virginia Commonwealth University’s Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs this year said they supported an amendment enshrining abortion access in the Virginia Constitution.
Spanberger has said she would support such an amendment as governor. At the debate earlier this month, she said she wants to preserve the “Roe standard” in Virginia.
At one point in the debate, after Earle-Sears suggested Spanberger supports letting fully birthed infants die, the Democrat fell silent.
After Earle-Sears prodded her to respond, Spanberger cited multiple reports of women in other Southern states who have faced life-threatening, and sometimes fatal, infections from pregnancy complications but could not receive abortions because of the bans enacted post-Roe.
“Women have died,” Spanberger said. “If my opponent were to become governor, that is what she would inflict upon Virginia.”
“Don’t lie like that,” Earle-Sears retorted.
Now Spanberger says it is Earle-Sears who is lying.
Early voting is already underway in Virginia. Election Day is Nov. 4.