To the Editor:

Since Del. Margi Vanderhye (D-34) has decided to make the divisive issue of abortion a major part of her campaign instead of focusing on jobs, transportation and education, I would like to address this diversionary tactic.

I’m pro-choice and I’m voting for Barbara Comstock (R). Here’s why. I understand that Barbara is pro-life like [former] Del. Vince Callahan (R) and U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10). And like them, Barbara understands that there are good people on both sides of this difficult issue and that there are many more issues that we agree on than disagree. She has always worked with men and women on both sides of this issue with mutual respect and she has the strong support of men and women on both sides of this issue because she has a record of producing results on kitchen table issues that matter to our district.

On abortion, the truth is — and any legal scholar will tell you — Roe v. Wade will not be overturned anytime in the near future, if ever, particularly now that President Obama is selecting Supreme Court justices. So, it is both an insult to our intelligence, as well as a diversion to talk about threats that simply won’t happen in our state legislature. A state legislator cannot overturn a Supreme Court decision — only a Supreme Court justice can do that and there is no threat to the Roe v. Wade majority. The issues that get addressed in the state legislature are those such as limiting taxpayer funds for abortion, providing parental involvement in the decision of a young girl to have an abortion or health and safety regulations to protect women. There already exists in Virginia a bipartisan consensus on these issues and it would be a waste of our legislature’s time to do what Del. Vanderhye wants to do, reopen these divisive social issue debates when there are so many other important issues we need to address for our community.

I want my delegate focused on the issues that are the priorities of our community: jobs, transportation and education. Those are the issues that Barbara has been focused on throughout this campaign and what’s more, she has a detailed plan and a record of delivering results that she first honed when working for U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf. In contrast, Vanderhye, for example, has said essentially nothing about major issues such as transportation and her only solutions appear to be raising taxes on Northern Virginians when we are already shortchanged on the tax dollars we send to Richmond for roads and schools. So perhaps that is why she is trying to distract with this debate, but I would encourage voters to focus on the real issues that our delegates will be facing that impact our jobs, roads and schools.

Barbara Comstock (R) would be a member of the majority in the state legislature and would provide the strong voice we need for our district on improving our roads, schools and jobs.



Ellen Field

McLean