Jason Miyares advanced an extreme anti-abortion agenda as Virginia attorney general

When Jason Miyares was elected Virginia attorney general in 2021, Roe v. Wade was still the law of the land. Now, as he seeks reelection in a post-Roe world, his anti-choice record poses a new threat to reproductive freedom.

Miyares could have the final say in Virginia on how federal rules are enforced and public funds are spent, just as the Trump administration eyes banning abortion drugs and defunding health care nonprofits.

Virginia is the last Southern state without onerous restrictions on reproductive care.

“This November, Virginians will make a choice that will determine whether our families, our daughters, and generations to come can control our own bodies, or whether far-right politicians like Jason Miyares will control them for us,” wrote author Tara Gibson.

Miyares’ opposition to abortion predates his time in elected office. In 2012, he was a campaign strategist for Republican Rep. Scott Rigell, who co-sponsored a fetal personhood bill. Miyares publicly criticized Rigell’s Democratic opponent for making abortion rights an issue in the race.

Miyares was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2015. During his tenure, he twice voted to block state funding for health care providers that offer abortion services, including Planned Parenthood, where abortions make up only about 3% of all care provided. He also opposed the expansion of a state program that helps low-income earners afford contraception.

Miyares’ most notable anti-abortion vote was against the 2020 Reproductive Health Protection Act, which eliminated medically unnecessary restrictions on receiving abortion care. Prior to the law, women seeking abortions in Virginia were required to undergo an invasive vaginal ultrasound. Planned Parenthood called the ultrasounds an “appalling and offensive government overreach.”

As attorney general, Miyares aligned himself with so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” that still perform these unnecessary ultrasounds. Crisis pregnancy centers are anti-abortion groups that masquerade as health care providers. In 2022 and 2023, he co-signed letters with other Republican attorneys general threatening to sue Google and Yelp if they suppressed these centers in search results.

“Crisis pregnancy centers provide compassion and support to women in a time of need, at little to no cost,” Miyares said. “They are private charities that have bore the brunt of political attacks from politicians and corporations who disagree with their mission.”

Miyares claimed these attacks were “discriminatory.”

Around the same time, Miyares, not surprisingly, lauded the overturning of Roe v. Wade, framing the Supreme Court decision as a victory for states’ rights.

“Today the Supreme Court ruled that the issue of abortion should not be decided by unelected federal judges, but by the people of the States through their elected representatives,” Miyares wrote on Facebook. “Good and reasonable people can disagree on this issue but now Virginians, not federal judges, can decide its future.”

Despite this proclamation, Miyares has since pushed abortion restrictions that polling suggests most Virginians don’t want. He backed Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposal for a 15-week abortion ban and said America should look to Western European countries that ban abortion as early as eight weeks for guidance.

“People are always surprised when I point out that Europe has much more restrictive abortion policies than America, and most Western European countries are abortions banned after about 8 to 10 weeks or there are severe restrictions,” Miyares said in a 2022 talk radio interview. “The media never talks about that, but Europe has a much more restrictive. And my hunch is Europe got to that point because they worked it out through the democratic system and not having unelected judges deciding it.”

Miyares later refused to join other attorneys general in challenging a proposed ban on mifepristone, the most commonly used abortion medication.

Miyares’ current campaign website makes no reference to his anti-abortion record. It is a tacit acknowledgment that the issue is a political vulnerability for him in a state where 62% of adults support abortion access, according to a Virginia Commonwealth University poll.

“Miyares knows his anti-abortion stance is unpopular,” said Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Virginia. “He is not interested in hearing out his constituents or honoring their wishes.”

Miyares’ Democratic opponent is Del. Jay Jones, who lists protecting abortion rights as his top priority.

“Virginia is the last state in the South to preserve the right of women to make their own health care decisions,” Jones’ website says. “I’ll fight to keep it that way.”