In a bold reversal, Virginia’s newly-inaugurated Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) overturned the previous policy of his predecessor, pro-abortion Mark Herring (D), regarding a closely-watched case before the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS).
Less than a week after taking office, Miyares on Friday, January 21 sent a letter to the high court urging them to reverse the “wrongly-decided” controversial Roe v. Wade case from 1973 that struck down all pro-life laws in all 50 states and declared abortion to be a right protected in the Constitution.
In the Dobbs v. Women’s Health case currently before the Supreme Court, at issue is Mississippi’s “Gestational Age Act” that seeks to ban all abortions in the Magnolia State after an unborn child reaches 15 weeks of gestation.
When Herring was Attorney General, his office joined the attorneys general of 22 other states in filing a letter of support for abortion and in opposition to the new Mississippi law. However, due to Herring’s failed re-election bid in November 2021, he was replaced by Miyares, Virginia’s first Latino to hold that important post. Reflecting the new priorities and values of the new administration, Miyares’ action signals Virginia’s official transition into a pro-life state.
Solicitor General Andrew Ferguson, a new Miyares appointee, released this statement last Friday. “Following the change in Administration, the Attorney General has reconsidered Virginia’s position in this case.”
“Virginia now urges this Court to reverse the Fifth Circuit. (…) It is Virginia’s position that the Court’s decisions in Roe and Casey were wrongly decided. Unmoored from the Constitution’s text, the Court’s abortion jurisprudence has proven unworkable, and the Court’s effort to save it has distorted other areas of the law. This Court should restore judicial neutrality to the abortion debate by permitting the people of the several States to resolve these questions for themselves.”
The SCOTUS judges are expected to announce their ruling on the case in summer 2022.
–Scott Dreyer