On an issue so politically and emotionally charged as abortion, both sides in Richmond immediately staked their ground after the Virginia General Assembly passed historic legislation Thursday that would require abortion clinics to be regulated as hospitals.
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli – through his campaign arm – hailed the passage of legislation, while also sneaking in some red meat.
“For over 25 years, Virginia abortion clinics have not been held to minimal health and safety standards,” he said in a statement. “It is interesting to note that in 1984 when the health and safety regulations were removed from Virginia abortion clinics, the Virginia Society for Human Life and notoriously liberal National Organization for Women [NOW] held their one and only joint press conference ever.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, who delivered a scathing indictment of the measure on the Senate floor Thursday, said the Tea Party played a part in the bill’s passage.
“The Tea Party has taken over the Republican Party and now has a death grip on Republicans,” he said in a statement released by the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus. “In the past, Democrats could count on a Republican or two to defeat this type of legislation. Now, they are scared of being [challenged in a primary] by the Extreme Right.”
