Republican Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin will not personally attend the state’s March for Life, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned, but will instead send a representative.
Youngkin will attend early voting rallies in Wytheville, Radford, Augusta, and Chesterfield on Friday, the first day of early voting. The rallies occur the same day as the Virginia March for Life, which will take place at the steps of the state capitol in Richmond.
“Glenn has been abundantly clear and has stated he is pro-life and believes in exceptions in the case of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is at risk,”Youngkin campaign spokesman Macaulay Porter said. “Glenn stands shoulder to shoulder and in full support of pro-life Virginians set to join the March for Life this week.”
The Republican candidate previously indicated to the National Review that he would sign a bill that banned abortions of unborn babies who had reached 20 weeks (around the age of viability and after unborn babies can feel pain). A Youngkin campaign aide later told National Review that Youngkin confirmed he would sign a 20 week abortion ban.
“I think that when a child could feel pain, we should go discuss when that is, and that would be a very good moment for us to actually make sure we are stopping taxpayer-funded abortions,” Youngkin told the publication.
He has not addressed whether he supports restricting abortion earlier than 20 weeks.
“Everyone is welcome to march in the Virginia March for Life whether it’s to advocate for the unborn or even just to observe our peaceful, pro-life movement,” March for Life President Jeanne Mancini said in a statement to the DCNF. “While the March for Life does not endorse political candidates, we do ask that Virginians vote pro-life.”
“We have seen the damage done in Virginia by Governor Northam, who publicly advocated for a bill that allowed abortion up until birth, and other Virginia politicians who share his position including Terry McAuliffe,” Mancini added. “It’s time to elect politicians who respect and protect our most vulnerable citizens.”
Both Youngkin and McAuliffe have shown caution in addressing where they draw the line on abortion.
McAuliffe has not defined a single restriction on abortion that he supports, though he was offered the chance during an early September interview with the local outlet WVTF.
His reticence allows Youngkin to suggest that McAuliffe supports abortion “all the way up through and including birth,” drawing on Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s 2019 comments on infanticide.
McAuliffe has fired back by accusing Youngkin of hiding his abortion stances for fear of losing independent voters, referring to a video clip published by the American Independent in July in which Youngkin promised a voter that he will not “go squishy” on her, emphasizing he is “staunchly pro-life,” but said that he cannot go “on offense” against the abortion industry yet.
Youngkin’s campaign previously told the DCNF that the videos merely show Youngkin refusing to engage with divisive topics.
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