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Yesli Vega (VA-07) and Jen Kiggans (VA-02) are under fire from a Virginia editorial board for their “mush-mouthed,” “lies of omission” strategy to hide their anti-abortion extremism from voters.
A Daily Progress editorial slammed both candidates for “playing the same game in the abortion ban debate” – of “signal[ing] intentions with dog whistles to your anti-abortion base and dog[ing] your other would-be constituents and the media by refusing to make yourself available for questioning.”
No matter how much Kiggans and Vega try to paper over their record, Virginians know the truth: Both candidates want to outlaw abortion, cheered the end of Roe v. Wade, and would be a danger to women’s health and rights in Congress. Read more:
Daily Progress: Opinion/Editorial: Voters deserve specific answers on abortion votes
By Editorial Board
September 29, 2022
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“Vega is playing the same game in the abortion ban debate in the state’s 7th District race as Republican candidate Jen Kiggans is playing in the 2nd District. We call it the ‘lies of omission’ strategy.”
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“It goes something like this: When faced with a controversial issue like legally forcing women to give birth after the moment of conception or after a certain point in pregnancy, you ignore questions or refuse to give a straight answer.”
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“Instead, you signal intentions with dog whistles to your anti-abortion base and dodge your other would-be constituents and the media by refusing to make yourself available for questioning to the extent possible.”
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“During the 2022 Republican primary campaign, Vega reportedly sent out an email bragging that she had a perfect score on a survey by the National Pro-life Alliance, which supports a national life-at-conception law that effectively bans all abortions.”
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“If you are a resident of the 7th District, expect silence or a lie of omission in response to one of the most important questions in one of the most important House of Representatives races in the nation.”
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“In an equally critical Virginia congressional race that will help determine control of the House of Representatives, Kiggans lies by omission about whether she will vote for a national ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy with exceptions for rape, incest or the mother’s health. Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina introduced a bill that will do that.”
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“Kiggans works from what sounds like a script written by Republicans worried about a backlash against the Supreme Court decision that lets individual states decide if women will be forced to remain pregnant against their will, Kiggans supported that decision when it came out in June. But when abortion rights referenda in conservative strongholds Missouri and Kansas showed women revolting against it, her tone changed.”
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“How about a simple yes or no? Being mush-mouthed is paying off. It recently let a fact checker say Kiggans’ opponent, Democratic incumbent Elaine Luria, had ‘stretched hazy statements’ when Luria said Kiggans would ‘support a national abortion ban.’”
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“Voters in Virginia’s 7th and 2nd Congressional Districts should demand definite answers, not equivocal positions, on how their representatives will vote on a woman’s right to control her body. Those who refuse to make that clear don’t deserve voters’ trust or ballots. Not responding to questions or changing positions to fool constituents may be smart politics. It is also betrayal.”
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