The new laws aim to boost maternal health in the state, as a political battle brews over a reproductive rights constitutional amendment voters must decide on later this year
Building on prior progress in addressing maternal health care disparities and increasing support for new parents, Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed a slate of bills that have been part of the ongoing “Momnibus” package on Wednesday.
The move came just ahead of an annual Virginia March for Life rally around Capitol Square, where more than a thousand exhibited their support for anti-abortion legislation.
Both events tee up a reproductive rights fight later in the year as Virginians statewide can decide whether or not to enshrine abortion, contraception and fertility treatment access into the state’s constitution in November.
The new laws
As she cradled two-month-old Breydan Patterson, Spanberger signed bills to boost maternal health data collection, support mental health screenings of new parents and remote monitoring devices for high-risk patients.
Alexis Patterson, Breydan’s mother and a doula with Birth in Color, said she was thrilled that her youngest son had the chance to be part of a historic moment.
“I’m excited to see the rest of the Momnibus bills be signed, not just as a doula, but as someone who has needed some of these services,” she said.
She said her mental health took a dip in past pregnancies and she relied on support from others to get through a rough postpartum period. Some parents experience depression during the massive hormone fluctuations of pregnancy and postpartum recovery, which one of the bills the governor signed into law was designed to address.
House Bill 1400 by Del. Magaret Franklin, D-Prince William, will now require health insurance carriers to provide coverage for maternal mental health screenings.
HB 1403, also by Franklin, renames Virginia’s Maternal Mortality Review Team as the Maternal Mortality and Severe Maternal Morbidity Review Team.
The shift represents an expansion of tasks for the cohort to include a focus on severe maternal morbidity. Like the previous team’s work, statistical data the group compiles will be made available on the Virginia Department of Health website as a public resource.
Spanberger also signed HB 1353 by Del. Laura Jane Cohen, D-Fairfax, which sets up a workgroup to explore establishing a statewide maternal health safety initiative, and HB 425 by Del. Destiny Levere Bolling, D-Henrico. That bill directs Medicaid reimbursement to cover remote monitoring services for high-risk patients for up to a year postpartum.
Spanberger said last year’s and this year’s Momnibus legislation is a successful example of state lawmakers working together on bipartisan solutions to maternal health issues and thanked them for their work.
The March for Life
As the governor, advocates and lawmakers celebrated the new maternal health laws inside the Patrick Henry Building Wednesday morning, about 1,000 people gathered outside for the Virginia March for Life
Hosted with support from the Family Foundation, the annual event draws parents, children, political activists and faith leaders from around the state. Featured speakers this year emphasized their opposition to a reproductive rights amendment that will appear on statewide ballots in November.
The proposal cleared the state legislature two years in a row and now needs voters’ final approval to pass. As the least restrictive Southern state when it comes to abortion access, approving the measure can make protections less subject to partisan turnover in the legislature, executive mansion or federal authorities.
“Once it becomes enshrined in our constitution it becomes harder to fight,” Family Foundation president Victoria Cobb said. “We are not just fighting against something, we are fighting for something.”
Virginia’s pending amendment only advanced this far because of Democratic control of the legislature. Republicans, like several March For Life speakers, have countered that the amendment would erode parental consent laws for minors seeking the procedure and allow abortions late in pregnancy.
While the amendment does not address minors’ abilities to obtain abortions or contraception, existing state law allows minors to get contraception but prohibits them from getting any surgery, including like abortions or sterilization, without approval from parents or guardians or a successful judicial grant. State lawmakers have emphasized how those state laws would still hold should the amendment pass.
Though third trimester abortions are rare, the amendment would allow limited access to them and would apply a legal structure called “strict scrutiny” for instance where challenges may arise.
Former Planned Parenthood employee Mayra Rodriguez fired up the crowd before they marched around Capitol Square. Rodriguez was fired from an Arizona clinic after lodging complaints against a particular doctor there and won a wrongful termination lawsuit. Now dubbed a “Planned Parenthood whistleblower” by the march’s organizers, she described working in the clinic as being more about profit than about health care.
Rodriquez also reflected on Tuesday’s redistricting referendum, which passed by narrow margins Tuesday, making Virginia the latest state to redraw congressional maps ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
“What happened yesterday matters. Elections matter. Showing up to the polls matters,” she said. “So we cannot just march today, we must be ready for tomorrow.”
As congressional campaigns ramp up through the remainder of the year, so will campaigns both for and against the reproductive rights amendment.
Reproductive rights advocates Sarah Kolick and Clare Strahler came with an “abortion is healthcare” sign and marched alongside the opposing crowd. Whenever the crowd would chant “we love the babies, we love the mamas,” Kolick and Strahler would cite women who have died amid pregnancy complications in states with abortion bans.
As the demonstration concluded, organizers directed the crowd to an anti-abortion advocacy training session at the nearby Greater Richmond Convention Center following the march.
“Let’s be louder than the other side,” Rodriquez said.
