News
Featured Image
Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia.

VIRGINIA, February 1, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Virginia Democrats have rushed into damage control mode as their comments about abortion during birth and infanticide continue to generate massive backlash.

On Thursday, Gov. Ralph Northam held a press conference with Democratic leadership during which he suggested Republicans have been uncivil in the wake of his comments about fellow Democrat Del. Kathy Tran’s abortion-through-birth bill. Tran had admitted that her now-defeated bill would have allowed abortion even as a mother was “dilating” and going into labor.

“So in this particular example, if the mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen: 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 desire, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother,” Northam said during a radio interview on Wednesday.

Northam is now facing calls to resign after admitting Friday evening he is in a photo in his medical school yearbook showing one person in blackface and one dressed in a KKK costume. He did not say which costume he was wearing. The Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax, is African-American. 

“Misinformation has been circulating on where Virginia Democrats stand on issues related to women’s reproductive health,” Northam said Thursday during his press conference. “Virginia Democrats are on the side of ensuring women have access to the healthcare they need.”

“We can agree to disagree on this topic, but we can be civil about it,” he claimed. “As a doctor who has counseled parents of sick children in the hospice, as someone who has given women and families some of the worst news on the worst day of their lives, to play politics with that is just not who we are as Virginians.”

Northam is a former pediatric neurologist.

He went on to espouse a number of generic pro-abortion talking points about wanting Roe v. Wade to remain the “law of the land,” “reproductive freedom” and “reproductive health” decisions.

READ: Virginia gov. who defended infanticide: ‘I have devoted my life to caring for children’

Attorney General Mark Herring spoke after Northam and directly denied that the governor had endorsed infanticide.

“(Republicans’) political games have exposed a member of the House of Delegates to violent, personal threats,” Herring claimed. “And now, (Speaker) Kirk Cox has taken his caucus completely off the deep end, accusing Governor Northam of supporting infanticide, which would be laughable if it wasn’t such a grotesque and abhorrent claim. Governor Northam served this country in uniform. He has dedicated his entire life to the welfare of children.”

A reporter asked Northam if he regretted his now-infamous comments or wished he’d said them a different way.

“No, I don’t have any regrets,” he responded.

The Democrats’ full press conference can be viewed below.