Virginia Republicans Promised a “Reasonable” Abortion Law. They Just Proposed an Extreme Ban.

On Wednesday, Virginia Republicans introduced a bill to criminalize abortion in the commonwealth after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The party is framing the ban as a moderate compromise: GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin praised it as a “bipartisan consensus,” while the Senate Republican caucus described it as “practical, sensible, and reasonable.”

But these descriptions do not align with the actual text of the law. In addition to outlawing abortion long before viability, the proposal shares several features with the extreme abortion bans adopted by states like Louisiana and Texas. It contains extremely limited exceptions while exposing doctors to criminal liability for performing emergency abortions. In short, the ban would ensure that reproductive health care in Virginia is dictated by criminal law rather than patients and their physicians.

The measure is unlikely to pass immediately—the day before its introduction, a Democrat won a close race that expanded his party’s control of the state senate. But it shows voters exactly how Republicans plan to govern, should they seize control of the legislature in next year’s elections.