Coastal Virginia congressional candidates present stark contrast on abortion rights

Republican US Rep. Jen Kiggans has pushed to restrict access to abortion care, while her Democratic challenger Missy Cotter Smasal wants to defend reproductive freedom.

As with so many elections across the country this year, abortion access is shaping up to be a key issue in the fierce battle to represent Virginia’s 2nd congressional district, which includes parts of Hampton Roads and Virginia’s Eastern Shore. 

The 2nd District contest in Virginia is pitting first-term incumbent Republican US Rep. Jen Kiggans against Democratic challenger Missy Cotter Smasal. The two US Navy veterans vying to represent a district with a high number of service members and veterans have each attracted the backing of their national parties in a race that could help tip the balance of power in Congress. 

READ MORE: Meet the candidates running to represent Hampton Roads in Congress

According to Kiggans’ website, she supports leaving abortion policies up to the states. But such a stance means she’s okay with the abortion bans and restrictions that have gone into effect in 22 states after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Abortion remains legal in Virginia, though reproductive freedom is still an issue Democrats and Republicans routinely clash over in Virginia’s General Assembly. 

Smasal, by contrast, has gotten the endorsement of the political arm of Planned Parenthood and has made their different stances on abortion a centerpiece of her attacks on Kiggans. 

“Anti-choice Jen Kiggans repeatedly chooses MAGA extremists and Donald Trump over the best interests of Coastal Virginians at every turn,” Smasal said in an email statement to Dogwood. “She is determined to force her anti-reproductive rights record on Virginian women and women serving in our military.”

A telling vote

While Kiggans doesn’t appear as eager to talk about her stance on abortion, a high-profile vote last year saw her standing shoulder to shoulder with the right-wing faction of the Republican party. 

Kiggans joined right-wing conservatives in the House in 2023 in supporting the addition of a number of social policy prescriptions to an important defense bill. Among the provisions was one that would have reversed a Pentagon policy that allows time off and travel reimbursement for service members who have to travel out of state for abortion care. Traveling miles for abortion care has become increasingly common as states differ on whether to crack down or uphold reproductive freedom in the wake of Roe being overturned. The defense bill ultimately passed without the culture war provisions. 

Kiggans did not respond to a request for comment for this story. But she told The New York Times at the time that, “taxpayers should not be paying for elective surgery.” 

“This wasn’t a bill about abortion; it was about taxpayers paying for travel for military members for elective procedures,” Kiggans told the Times in 2023. 

Downplaying the necessity of abortion care could be seen as a slap in the face to the pregnant survivors of rape or incest who don’t want to carry their abusers’ children and to the service women for whom abortions are a medical necessity and need to travel hundreds of miles to get care.   

The issue took center stage at the Democratic National Convention this week in Chicago, where on Monday night Hadley Duvall of Kentucky told how she was raped by her stepfather and became pregnant at age 12. 

“I can’t imagine not having a choice,” Duvall said. “But today that’s the reality for many women and girls across the country because of Donald Trump’s abortion bans.” 

READ MORE:Jen Kiggans voted in 2020 against reforms for predatory payday lenders who target military members