Youngkin Signs Bill to Protect Reproductive and Sexual Health Data, Vetoes Right to Contraception

Public concerns about menstrual health data privacy have flared in Virginia since the overturn of federal abortion protections and changes to state laws relating to the procedure. Gov. Glenn Youngkin has helped put some of those fears at bay by signing Senate Bill 754 by Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Fairfax.

Reproductive-rights supporters watch as lawmakers debate a proposed constitutional amendment to protect abortion access on Jan. 21, 2025. (Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)

Her bill protects reproductive health data, often collected in period tracking digital apps, and allows consumers to sue if their data is sold or released without their consent.

Governor unleashes veto storm to drown progressive legislation

Favola expressed gratitude to Youngkin in a statement.

“It should go without saying that when a woman has her period or visits a doctor, it is nobody’s business but her own,” Favola added.

As more pregnant people travel to get abortions outside states where the medical procedure is banned or restricted, some states — including Alabama and Texas — have threatened legal repercussions for people who leave the state for an abortion, and for those who aid them.  Last year Youngkin signed a related bill by Favola to protect menstrual health data from search warrants — roughly a year after many, including former President Joe Biden and talk show host Stephen Colbert,  lambasted the governor for opposing it in a previous legislative session.

Reproductive health is still a hotly debated topic, particularly among partisan lines, as Virginia weighs a proposed constitutional amendment to enshrine reproductive rights more broadly into the state constitution. This week, Youngkin again vetoed a bill that would have shored up the right to contraception.

After helping overturn federal abortion protections in 2022, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas expressed interest in revisiting cases that upheld contraception protections. As some states have also explored contraceptive restrictions in recent years, reproductive rights advocates and some lawmakers in Virginia have emphasized the benefit of strengthening state law, should federal protections for contraception also be overturned.

While the measure also cleared the legislature last year, Youngkin sought amendments that the bill’s patrons say “gutted” it because it reinstated the federal court cases for which protection hinges on before he ultimately vetoed it.

This year, he went straight for a veto.

by Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury