Jason Miyares – A Threat To Our Reproductive Freedom

By Tarina Keene, Executive Director, REPRO Rising Virginia and
Jamie Lockhart, Executive Director, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia

The election of Virginia’s next attorney general is critical to determining the rights and freedoms Virginians will enjoy. Allowing Attorney General Miyares another term will put the health, freedoms, and very lives of millions of Virginians at risk.

At stake is the proposed Constitutional Amendment for Reproductive Freedom. This amendment would protect the right to access abortion, contraception, miscarriage, and fertility care, and guarantee the full spectrum of reproductive health care for generations to come in a time when these freedoms are under direct threat. 

Jason Miyares has shown Virginians exactly where he stands on reproductive health care — and it isn’t with them. Through both his words and his record, Miyares has made clear that he would use every lever of power to delay, distort, or derail the reproductive freedom amendment, even without clear legal authority to do so. He opposed the Reproductive Health Protection Act in 2020, voted twice to keep Virginia’s mandatory ultrasound requirement, and fought to preserve a 24-hour waiting period that made access to care more burdensome and costly. He has spoken at rallies alongside organizations that want to ban abortion entirely, voted to block insurance coverage for abortion on the state marketplace, and even skipped a vote to affirm that birth control is not abortion.

Miyares’ pattern is unmistakable: he supports an abortion ban, fought to overturn Roe v. Wade, and continues to align himself with anti-abortion extremists determined to strip Virginians of their right to make personal health care decisions. As Attorney General, he could follow the same path we’ve seen Republican attorneys general take in other states — weaponizing the office against reproductive freedom. In Missouri, for instance, Attorney General Andrew Bailey refused to approve a fiscal note for a proposed abortion rights ballot measure, stalling the process and triggering costly legal battles.

If Virginia voters approve a constitutional amendment to protect reproductive freedom, Miyares could take a page from that same playbook — refusing to defend the amendment or using procedural tactics to block its implementation. Virginians deserve an Attorney General who will uphold their rights, not one who schemes to take them away. The fight to secure reproductive freedom in Virginia isn’t over; it’s entering its most critical phase, and the stakes could not be higher.

On the other side stands Delegate Jay Jones, a staunch advocate for reproductive freedom. Jones would not only support the constitutional amendment but would vigorously defend it against the inevitable legal challenges from anti-abortion extremist groups. His priority would be upholding the will of the people of the Commonwealth and standing up against Trump and his cronies, who want to ban abortion.

Virginia voters care deeply about what affects their lives and the lives of their families. Bodily autonomy is a cornerstone of personal freedom. We’ve witnessed firsthand in the post-Roe world how abortion bans and limits on reproductive health care endanger people, leading to tragic consequences and even death.

Your vote is your power. It’s your chance to secure the future you want for yourself and your children. Do you want to guarantee access to the full spectrum of reproductive health care, or have it taken away?

This election presents a stark choice between two vastly different futures. Jay Jones will protect the freedoms we cherish in the Commonwealth. Jason Miyares will work with anti-abortion extremists and the Trump administration to dismantle them.

You can read the shortened version of this OpEd on The Dogwood!

Featured photo “Abortion is healthcare” by Abhinav Bhardwaj on Unsplash