EXCLUSIVE — Republican Yesli Vega, running in Virginia‘s 7th Congressional District, said she would support “commonsense legislation” on transgender medical interventions for minors if she is elected to Congress in November.
Vega, who is hoping to unseat Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) in the swing district, said at a campaign rally Monday night that any effort from the government “to steal our children’s innocence must stop.”
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“I’m interested in supporting commonsense legislation,” Vega told the Washington Examiner on Monday night after a rally in Fredericksburg headlined by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. “You have to be 18 years old to get under a tanning bed, but at the same time, you have a radical, progressive Democratic Party that is saying that it’s OK for children to literally mutilate their bodies. That’s unacceptable. Again, we’re the adults, we have to look out for our children. We have to protect them because a lot of these things that they’re pushing are irreversible.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) introduced the Protecting Children’s Innocence Act in August, which would make it a “felony to perform any gender-affirming care on a minor.” Vega did not say if she would vote for this particular bill but said there needs to be more oversight over treatments that could include mastectomies and loss of fertility.
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who recently announced that she is leaving the Democratic Party, will campaign with Vega this weekend. Gabbard rejects many of the “woke” policies that Vega says she stands against. Gabbard sponsored a bill in 2020 that would have banned biological men from participating in women’s sports at the collegiate level.
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“I’m excited to have her campaigning with me here this coming week, where we’re going to be talking about those issues, like empowering young girls, empowering moms to be involved and to be engaged like never before, because our children are counting on us to protect them and to get this right,” Vega said.
Vega also defended comments she made about abortion in leaked audio from a campaign event earlier this year. Asked by an attendee if she’s heard it’s “harder for a woman to get pregnant if she’s been raped,” Vega responded, “I don’t know. I haven’t, you know, seen any studies. But if I’m processing what you’re saying, it wouldn’t surprise me,” Vega said at the time.
Democrats have seized on the remark, saying she was downplaying the likelihood of becoming pregnant after a rape.
“I certainly was not downplaying anything,” she said Monday. “I always try to be mindful of what people share with me, and what that individual was sharing with me was a study that she had read, and I didn’t want to be dismissive. I’m a law enforcement officer. I’ve worked these cases, and shame on my opponent for trying to use that to score cheap political points.”
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Spanberger has painted Vega’s anti-abortion stance as “too extreme for Virginia” and has made her commitment to abortion rights a core feature of her campaign.
Their race is among the most competitive in the nation this election cycle. Republicans need a net gain of five House seats to gain a majority in the lower chamber next year.
