RICHMOND, Va. (AP) 鈥� The White House rebuked Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin this week for supporting state lawmakers' rejection of a bill that that would have prohibited police from issuing search warrants for digitized data about women鈥檚 menstrual cycles.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on Friday that the Republican governor's push to block the bill at a time when abortion access is diminishing 鈥渁ttacks the principles of freedom and a woman鈥檚 fundamental right to privacy," the reported.
Virginia鈥檚 Democrat-controlled state Senate had passed the 31-9, with nine Republicans joining Democrats to send it to the House, where Republicans hold a majority. A Republican-controlled House subcommittee voted along party lines Monday to table the measure, with Youngkin鈥檚 support.
Youngkin spokesperson Macaulay Porter defended the governor's position to the Times-Dispatch and said the data-gathering limits that Democrats had proposed were 鈥渦nsafe.鈥�
State Sen. Barbara Favola, an Arlington Democrat and the bill's sponsor, told the Times-Dispatch on Friday that the proposed measure was needed to protect women's privacy against the backdrop of 鈥渢hese very serious, very draconian abortion bans鈥� nationwide.
Hers is among many hot-button bills that have been rejected this year by Virginia's divided legislature as the state prepares to vote this fall on all 140 General Assembly seats.
The Associated Press
