Ashley Judd, congresswomen, state lawmakers and advocates gather on second anniversary of Dobbs

Actress and activist Ashley Judd speaks before a crowd in Richmond, Virginia on the second anniversary of the overturn of federal abortion protections. Charlotte Rene Woods / Virginia Mercury

“My story includes abortion — a guy I’ve known since I was a kid raped me,” actress and activist Ashley Judd shared with a crowd of about 100 in Richmond on Monday to mark the two-year anniversary of the overturn of federal abortion protections.

“And when I became pregnant, I was so grateful that I was able to access safe and legal abortion,” she said.

Judd, who was a prominent figure amid the #MeToo movement to advocate against sexual assault and harassment, joined state and federal lawmakers Monday to stress the significance of abortion access amid this year’s presidential and congressional elections.

Though the personal story Judd shared was grim, the attitude of the event was light at times; Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, celebrated the Democratic gains made in the state legislature last year while U.S. Reps. Jennifer McClellan, 4th District, and Abigail Spanberger, 7th District, celebrated camaraderie among women in politics.

But the seriousness of abortion laws was central to the gathering.

Signs held by participants read “This is Trump’s fault” — a reference to how President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court picks gave conservatives the majority to overturn Roe v. Wade, the nearly 50 year-old case that had guaranteed abortion rights.

“If you think Dobbs was the beginning, it wasn’t,” McClellan said, in reference to the 2022 case that overturned Roe.

She noted how in the years following, legislators and legal cases have challenged contraception and in vitro fertilization, as well.

Trump will face off against current president Joe Biden this November, as will congressional and U.S. Senate candidates around the nation. While Biden has made abortion protection a key pillar of his campaign, another Trump presidency and GOP gains in congress could usher in further abortion restrictions.

“We cannot afford Republican-controlled governance. We cannot afford a Republican-controlled Congress,” Lucas told the crowd. “Our freedoms are at stake: Freedom to vote, freedom to contraception, freedom over our bodies.”

Lucas and Spanberger stressed how before Democrats held their line in the state senate and flipped the House of Delegates last year, they’d blocked Republican-led attempts to restrict abortion in Virginia.

Meanwhile, Spanberger, who is not seeking another term in congress and is instead running for governor, could be the person to sign other reproductive health-related legislation into law in 2026. That year, voters statewide could also see a potential ballot referendum to decide if abortion protections should be enshrined in Virginia’s constitution .

“We are in a place where we have seen desperate people come from other states, because Virginia is the only state in the South that has not put additional restrictions in place,” Spanberger said.

That fact was reiterated several times later in the morning in a roundtable discussion at the VCU Health Hub in Richmond’s east end. McClellan was joined by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services acting director Melanie Fontes Rainer, Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax and Del. Rae Cousins, D-Richmond to hear from reproductive health professionals.

‘A turning point’

From various providers of reproductive healthcare, to those who assist with births and political advocates, each person had insight to share.

Longtime OB-GYN William Fitzhugh, Whole Woman’s Health CEO Amy Hagstrom Miller, Kenda Sutton-El of Birth in Color and Stephanie Spencer of Urban Baby Beginnings shared concerns about the influx of out-of-state abortion patients.

Hagstrom Miller said that there’s been an uptick in patients visiting Whole Women’s Health from Georgia and Florida – where most abortions are banned after six weeks.

She noted how last year, a patient’s menstrual cycle had continued after she conceived, so she was unaware she was pregnant until she had lost the ability to receive an abortion in Georgia. The patient, Chasity Dunnans, then traveled to Whole Woman’s Health’s Charlottesville clinic for the procedure. As many other southern states impose near-total bans or six-week limits, North Carolina and Virginia stand as a point of access for some. But North Carolina’s 12-week cap meant Dunnans had to travel further .

“We are at a turning point here in Virginia,’ Boysko said.

She has carried a proposed constitutional amendment that would enshrine abortion access in Virginia’s constitution. This would make access less subject to partisan turnover in the state legislature.

To alter the constitution, Boysko’s resolution will need to clear the legislature two years in a row, with a House of Delegates election in between, before appearing on statewide ballots for voters to accept or reject. Pending its first passage next year, this could happen in 2026.

“Abortion isn’t always a partisan issue,” Hagstrom Miller said. “Everytime we put abortion on the ballot, it wins.”

In the two years since Roe was overturned, voters have backed abortion rights in red states like Kansas and Ohio and blue states like California , and in competitive states like Michigan .

But a patchwork quilt of different abortion laws exist around the country. So, as people travel to other states to receive abortions, privacy and criminalization concerns have emerged.

Rainer noted a new Biden administration rule that strengthens privacy protections. It will prevent reproductive healthcare information from being shared for criminal investigations.

“Bolstered patient privacy and trust isn’t just about your records,” she said. “It’s about ‘am I too scared to go back to an emergency room or to go back to a facility to get the care that I need? Am I too scared to keep information from my doctor because I’m trying to protect myself or I’m trying to protect my doctor? Or is my provider too scared to give me information because they risk criminal liability?’”

Similarly, Virginia has taken on the issue at the state level. After vetoing it previously, this year Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill this year to prohibit menstrual health data from being subject to search warrants. But  he vetoed a companion bill that would have prevented Virginia from complying with extradition requests for patients who travel from states with bans to receive abortions in Virginia.

Concurrent with abortion legislation, lawmakers from Virginia and nationwide have sought to protect access to contraception and in vitro fertilization. Youngkin vetoed a right-to-contraception bill this year while congress’ right-to-contraception and IVF efforts have been stalled as well. Lawmakers say they will keep trying.

“It is imperative that we take action at the state and federal level,” Cousins said. “It’s concerning to me that with one election, we could go all the way backward.”

Meanwhile, Judd noted how some who seek abortions are already mothers and may not be able to afford to care for more children, an example of the various reasons a woman may need to end a pregnancy.

“Becoming a mother or a parent is a profoundly human endeavor. It rests on our hearts and on our souls,” Judd said. “It involves circumstances that are deeply practical — our light bill, our pocketbooks, housing, social support — and it often involves faith and prayer. And what it should not include is the United States government.”

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