Democrats who control the House and Senate are pursuing what they call an "affordability agenda." One part of that agenda is access to contraception.
Like many young women who become unexpectedly pregnant, Janicka Fernandez did not know what to do. She decided to have an abortion.
"I wish I had access to contraception so I wouldn't have to make the choice," Fernandez says. "The choice between my career that I wanted to pursue and putting my child in the same environment that my mother had to fight so hard to keep us out of all because I did not have contraception."
Now, she's speaking out in favor of the Right to Contraception Act, which passed the Senate this week with a bipartisan vote. The bill prohibits the restriction of the sale, provision or use of contraceptives. Three Republican senators voted in favor of the bill, which was introduced by Senator Jennifer Carroll Foy, a Democrat from Prince William County.
"I believe that many of those Republicans did it because it's the right thing, and other ones for whatever reason did not," Carroll Foy says. "And they will have to answer to that in their communities when girls and women ask those questions as to, 'Why are you impugning or infringing on my rights?'"
Last year, Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed the bill. This year, Governor Abigail Spanberger is expected to sign it.
