Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

Reproductive Health Care Decisions

Decisions regarding medical care are best left to the doctor and the patient. This is particularly true with decisions regarding reproductive health care, which often involve difficult decisions. Jennifer has been an outspoken leader in the fight against legislation that inserts government into these complex decisions, such as the mandate that a woman have an ultrasound prior to an abortion, personhood legislation, and legislation to prohibit state funding for abortions in the case of gross fetal abnormality. Jennifer also sponsored legislation to eliminate the 30-day waiting period for sterilization of individuals who have never had or adopted a child.

Helping Family Caregivers Provide Long Term Care

As the Virginia population ages, long-term care is becoming more of a challenge for Virginia families. Jennifer has supported efforts to develop and fund a more integrated system of acute and long-term care for the elderly. Jennifer is also committed to sustaining and strengthening family care-giving as a complementary component of the service delivery system, and will work to increase grants available to caregivers of mentally or physically impaired relatives. Jennifer has also worked to help protect long term care policy holders from inadvertent termination of their policy by sponsoring legislation requiring at least 60 days notice of a lapse or termination of the policy for nonpayment of premium and offering protections to policy holders who may show early signs of dementia and may not understand the ramifications of a notice of lapse or termination.

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