Mary Margaret Olohan
- Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin responded Friday to allegations he’s masking his abortion stances for fear of losing independent voters.
- A liberal news site posted a video showing Youngkin promising he will not “go squishy” on abortion issues but saying that he cannot go “on offense” against the abortion industry yet.
- “Glenn Youngkin is pro-life,” Youngkin spokesman Matt Wolking said Friday. “Youngkin supports funding for women’s health centers, believes that fewer abortions is a good thing, supports exceptions for rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is in danger, and opposes Terry McAuliffe’s extreme agenda of forcing taxpayers to fund abortions, even at the moment a baby is being born.”
Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin responded Friday to allegations that he’s masking his abortion stances for fear of losing independent voters.
“Glenn Youngkin is pro-life,” Youngkin spokesman Matt Wolking told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Youngkin supports funding for women’s health centers, believes that fewer abortions is a good thing, supports exceptions for rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is in danger, and opposes Terry McAuliffe’s extreme agenda of forcing taxpayers to fund abortions, even at the moment a baby is being born. The majority of Virginians do not support McAuliffe’s extreme pro-abortion agenda.”
The liberal news site the American Independent published a video late Wednesday of a Youngkin campaign event in Loudoun County where a questioner asked the GOP candidate if he would “take it to the abortionists” and defund Planned Parenthood. Youngkin promised the voter 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.
“I’m going to be really honest with you,” Youngkin said. “The short answer is in this campaign, I can’t. When I’m governor and I have a majority in the House we can start going on offense. But as a campaign topic, sadly, that in fact won’t win my independent votes that I have to get.
“So you’ll never hear me support Planned Parenthood, what you’ll hear me talk about is actually taking back the radical abortion policies that Virginians don’t want,” Youngkin said.
Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe suggested to The Washington Post that Youngkin is masking a deeply pro-life agenda, but Youngkin’s campaign told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the videos merely show Youngkin refusing to engage with divisive topics.
“This deceptively recorded audio demonstrates that Glenn Youngkin says the same thing no matter who he is talking to, unlike Terry McAuliffe who knowingly makes false allegations and decides what to say based on whatever poll is in front of him,” Wolking told the DCNF.
“Listen, I am staunchly, unabashedly pro-life,” Youngkin says in the video published by the American Independent. “And the abortion issue is an issue that the Democrats use to divide us. And, in fact, there is such common ground for us to say, wait a minute, where this crazy governor and the governor before him have taken Virginia is so out of bounds, let’s start the walk back.”
His campaign pointed out to WaPo that he did not respond when asked if he would ban abortion or at least ban abortions after an unborn baby’s heartbeat could be detected.
“Glenn Youngkin wants to defund Planned Parenthood and ban abortion in Virginia,” McAuliffe told WaPo. “Glenn knows he is completely out of step with Virginians, and he’s now admitted to hiding his real agenda just to get elected. Virginians cannot trust a word that comes out of his mouth.”
Youngkin’s reference to radical abortion policy harkens back to Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s January 2019 comments endorsing infanticide.
“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” Northam said in an interview. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
Youngkin, the former CEO of the private equity giant Carlyle Group, won the Republican nomination for Virginia governor in May. The Virginia election will be one of only two state elections choosing governors in 2021.
Former President Donald Trump endorsed Youngkin in a May statement that called McAuliffe Bill Clinton’s “bagman.”
“Congratulations to Glenn Youngkin for winning the Republican nomination for Governor of Virginia,” the former president said. “Glenn is pro-Business, pro-Second Amendment, pro-Veterans, pro-America, he knows how to make Virginia’s economy rip-roaring, and he has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”
“Glenn is running against Bill Clinton’s longtime enabler, Terry McAuliffe,” Trump continued. “Terry McAuliffe was the Clintons’ bagman in more ways than one, from the cover-ups to the get-rich-quick schemes, and his deals with Communist China look suspicious. He was responsible for many of the problems Virginia currently has. Virginia doesn’t need the Clintons or the Communist Chinese running the state, so say no to Terry McAuliffe, and yes to Patriot Glenn Youngkin.”
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Guy’s a RINO. Everyone I know is writing in Amanda Chase. We need a real pro-Trump conservative, not another Democrat in sheep’s clothing.