During Delegate Scott Lingamfelter’s 16 years in office, he has worked to restrict women’s access to healthcare more than to restrict the public’s access to guns. Every year, Lingamfelter votes for anti-women laws that restrict access to birth control, abortion, and family planning services and that unduly regulate abortion providers. At the same time, he has allowed nearly 90 bills that seek to prevent gun violence die in a committee that he chairs in the House of Delegates.
Scott Lingamfelter: A Darling of the NRA
Lingamfelter’s votes to kill gun violence prevention legislation have earned him accolades from the NRA. The organization awarded Lingamfelter the Carter-Knight Freedom Award for his efforts in repealing Virginia’s one-gun-a-month law, which limited the purchase of firearms to one per month. As chairman of the Militia, Police, and Public Safety Committee, Lingamfelter has let nearly 90 bills that attempt to reign in Virginia’s obsession with guns die in his committee.
Six Anti-Woman Votes from Del. Scott Lingamfelter
When the Virginia General Assembly convenes this January, you can bet that we’ll all be asking ourselves which new pieces of misogynist legislation he’ll be adding to the list below:
- In 2017 and 2016, Lingamfelter voted to defund Planned Parenthood, which provides essential health services to 22,000 Virginians.
- Lingamfelter voted for HB 462, a 2012 bill that required women to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound before receiving an abortion.
- Lingamfelter voted for former Gov. Bob McDonnell’s 2012 state budget that eliminated funding for teen pregnancy prevention.
- Back in 2011, when Virginia was considering establishing a state health exchange under the Affordable Care Act, Lingamfelter voted for HB 2434, which wouldn’t allow health insurance plans sold through the exchange to cover abortions.
- Also in 2011, he voted to impose sham restrictions on abortion providers in an attempt to shut down clinics.
It’s easier to buy a gun in Virginia than it is to get an abortion. WTF??
According to NARAL Virginia, women in the Commonwealth have a harder time accessing abortion than they did when Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. Even worse, four anti-choice laws were signed into law and more than 80 laws targeting women’s access to abortion and birth control were proposed since 2010.
So, 90 bills aiming to restrict guns have been killed by Lingamfelter since 2012 while 80 laws targeting women’s health have been proposed by Virginia’s Republicans since 2010? Lingamfelter’s voting record is pretty clear: Guns have rights, women do not. Protect women’s health by voting this November 7.
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