Last winter, Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam stunned the nation by effectively declaring support for infanticide.
“The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then, a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother,” he said in a radio interview regarding a state bill that would have allowed the killing of an infant who survived an abortion attempt.
His remarks left many wondering how anyone could be so callous.
Now we know.
Government watchdog Judicial Watch revealed Wednesday that Northam “took abortion talking points directly from Planned Parenthood.”
The organization released 115 pages of documents from Northam’s office that had been obtained under state Freedom of Information law.
They showed that one of the lieutenant governor’s senior staff members used an email address associated with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, Judicial Watch said.
“These new emails show that Planned Parenthood was running the press operations of the Governor of Virginia Ralph Northam after he endorsed infanticide during a radio interview,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It is incredible that a Northam staffer was actually using a Planned Parenthood email address to launder abortion talking points to other government officials and the media.”
Northam was weathering another controversy at the time, the discovery of a 1984 yearbook photo that depicted one person in blackface standing next to someone wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe. He first apologized for the image but later claimed neither person pictured was him.
Judicial Watch noted that the documents show that on Jan. 30, Alexsis Rodgers, a former policy director in the lieutenant governor’s office, was using a ppav.org email account.
Several hours after Northam’s extreme comments, Rodgers “sent talking points from her ppav.org email account titled ‘Topline messages for Northam’ to PPAV representative Missy Wesolowski, who then forwarded them to the Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Services, Gena Berger,” Judicial Watch said.
Some of the talking points:
- “There is no such thing as an abortion up until birth.”
- “Making a decision about whether to continue a pregnancy is a complex and personal decision. Politicians have no place in this process.”
- “As a physician, I know how important it is to trust my patients and for my patients to trust me.”
- “These are complicated medical decisions that families deserve to make in private without political interference.”
Rodgers also advised to comment “on background” and charged that pro-life organizations were characterizing “safe, legal abortion” in a “completely inaccurate and misleading” way.
Michelle Woods of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia sent to Northam’s press secretary a statement on the issue.
Woods’ message included, “I hope you win the day [smiley emoji].”
State officials later asked Woods to give them “talking points” for Northam to use.
Suggestions also came from a Planned Parenthood policy analyst, including one regarding pregnancy-related deaths.
