Virginia GOP quietly backs away from Glenn Youngkin's abortion bill

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin had hoped he could sign a bill restricting abortion rights in his state, but that dream died last year when Democrats won a special election that gained them control of the state senate.

Now local news station WRIC reports that Youngkin's own party is quietly shelving the legislation and doesn't even plan to give it a vote in the Republican-controlled Virginia House of Representatives.

"We don’t see a path for that bill to become law," Republican Delegate Rob Bell told WRIC this week, referring to Youngkin's proposed bill that would have banned most abortions in the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Democratic Virginia Delegate Don Scott took a victory lap and taunted his Republican colleagues for being "scared to death to go on the record against women, against choice in an election year."

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Abortion emerged as a major electoral issue after the United States Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision last year that for five decades had ensured women's reproductive rights.

Although several state legislatures have enacted abortion restrictions, ballot initiatives in both purple states like Michigan and red states like Kansas have shown voters have little appetite for strict abortion regulations.