VA-07: Vega (R) downplays possibility of pregnancy after rape

[DrScholl]

The unequivocal core of her comments is correct—as serious, sincere pro-choice advocates admit. Cases of rape resulting in pregnancy are tragic and extremely rare. Vega hasn't voiced support for or opposition to an exception in those cases. She should clarify her stance.

Her "Akin-esque" comments are extremely equivocal and given the context sound like an attempt to talk down someone (obviously disingenuously) presenting themselves as a no-exceptions crusader.

Q:  "I've actually heard that it's harder for a woman to get pregnant if she's been raped. Have you heard that?"
A: "Well, maybe because there's so much going on in the body. I don't know. I haven't, you know, seen any studies. But if I'm processing what you're saying, it wouldn't surprise me. Because it's not something that's happening organically. You're forcing it. The individual, the male, is doing it as quickly — it's not like, you know — and so I can see why there is truth to that. It's unfortunate."

She also benefits from not being a man like Akin was. Her response to the press, "I'm a mother of two, I'm fully aware of how women get pregnant." pretty much ends the discussion.

Don't expect Vega will have too much trouble winning a Republican district in November. Not a particularly remarkable candidate, though. Still Likely R.

Bring a woman and saying something like this actually makes it worse because it shows a complete lack of understanding from someone who is part of the group that rights are being stripped of. and she didn't shut down the unscientific and wrong belief that pregnancy from rape is less likely. This isn't even a Republican district it is a swing district.

[DrScholl]

Sickening. Again that is an unscientific theory that total defies biology.

[DrScholl]

VA-7 is a very strange congressional district composing the fringe of the DC metro area, a few rural counties and, also, the part of Prince William County that is extremely Democratic because it's diverse. There aren't too many people in southern Prince William County who would be swayed one way or another based on this clip.

This comment will hurt Vega but I wouldn't underestimate her. She's Salvadoran and represents some fundamental aspirations that will be held by Salvadorans i.e. she and her husband have attained social mobility through a more standard working class track. There are many Salvadorans living in Prince William County and if they shift from voting for Democrats by a 30-40 point margin to breaking even, that could be pivotal. Salvadorans are an unusual group, the only Hispanics in the US who are predominantly Protestant along with Guatemalans, so they have unusually extreme viewpoints about abortion.

Don't count on identity politics pulling her through.

The attacks come mostly from fellow Latinos. They don’t care that she’s a daughter of Salvadoran civil war refugees or that she’s active in the Spanish-speaking church where her father is pastor to undocumented immigrants. They’re instead focused on her party: Vega, 35, is a Republican, which they say doesn’t reflect where their fast-changing community is heading.

“You do not represent us,” Aida Campos, one of Vega’s constituents, told her during one meeting. “We do not claim you.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/yesli-vega-prince-william-republican/2020/10/16/a88e61a2-f76d-11ea-be57-d00bb9bc632d_story.html
Doesn't sound like she can break even with them just based on being Latino. They can't even stand her