The Hypocrisy of the Left in Virginia
Leading up to the November election, we predicted that if the House of Delegates and the Senate were controlled by the liberal Left, then it would become more difficult for law-abiding Virginians to protect themselves and their families and to peaceably live out their faith in the Old Dominion. Additionally, we stated that the bills that would be passed by the Left would forever change our beloved Commonwealth.
Indeed, as the General Assembly convenes this 2020 session, it has become apparent that our prophecy will come true. However, after reviewing their proposed legislation it has also become apparent that they will once again succeed in revealing the hypocrisy of the liberal Left.
Specifically, legislation (SB 21) has been introduced that removes the requirement that a pregnant minor obtain parental consent prior to having an abortion. This leads us to infer that the Left believes a minor child is mature enough to decide to have an abortion without the advice and counsel of her parents – the people who ostensibly have greater love and concern for her than anyone else in the world.
Also introduced into the 2020 session are two bills that deal with age requirements for children -- HB 38 prohibits a tanning facility from allowing anyone under the age of 18 to use a tanning bed in their facility, and SB 228 increases the age to operate a motorized skateboard or scooter without adult supervision from 14 to 16.
On the surface, it appears that these three pieces of legislation have much in common, but that’s not the case. In each bill, the Left is using situational ethics – morality that is based solely on a set of circumstances and subjective judgment – to impose their Leftist agenda on Virginians.
To be clear, according to SB 21, a pregnant minor (age 12 to 17) can independently decide to terminate her unborn child through a highly invasive, often dangerous, and permanent procedure without parental consent, but the Left would mandate that she be 18 to use a tanning salon and at least 16 to operate a motorized skateboard or scooter unless she has adult supervision.
This begs the question: If the left truly believes that girl under the age of 18 is mature enough to decide to choose an invasive abortion, then why don’t they believe she is also mature enough to choose whether to use a tanning bed? Given the vast number of studies that show that abortion can cause substantial and life-long psychological, social, and medical effects on a woman, particularly a young girl under the age of 18, is the Left really to have us believe that using a tanning bed could cause greater harm?
And while I agree with the Left that there is danger associated with riding a motorized skateboard, isn’t there at least as great a danger to minor girls who have an abortion?
Finally, the legislation that provides us with one of the most glaring examples of the hypocrisy of the left is SB 16, which would curtail Virginians’ 2nd Amendment rights. Governor Northam has stated that the proposed legislation by Senator Dick Saslaw (D-Springfield) will prevent gun violence and improve the safety of Virginia’s citizens, yet the Governor has also repeatedly affirmed his support for SB 21 and other previously proposed bills that promote the destruction of innocent human life through abortion including those that allow abortion up until the moment of birth. If Governor Northam and his cohorts who make up the radical Left are as concerned with the safety of the citizens of the Commonwealth as they say, then why aren’t they advocating for the lives of the weakest and most vulnerable people among us – the unborn children?
