With new AG, Virginia takes new position on abortion case
ABC News
Virginia’s new attorney general has altered the state’s position on a closely watched abortion case before the U.S. Supreme Court
RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia’s new attorney general has altered the state’s position on a closely watched abortion case before the U.S. Supreme Court, with his office now saying it should be left to individual states to decide on restrictions.
When Democrat Mark Herring was attorney general, the state joined more than 20 other states in a brief filed in September urging the justices to declare unconstitutional Mississippi’s law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Herring was a strong supporter of abortion rights.
Republican Jason Miyares, an abortion opponent, defeated Herring in November and took office last weekend.
Citing “the change in administration,” Miyares “has reconsidered Virginia’s position in this case,” Virginia Solicitor General Andrew Ferguson wrote Friday in declaring the state no longer adheres to that friend-of-the-court brief.
