As women's wave comes to assembly, House Democrats look to undo 'Day of Tears' mourning Roe v. Wade

As the Democratic women of the Virginia House of Delegates highlighted a package of bills to protect abortion access and fight sexual harassment, one delegate offered a theory for why Republicans seem to have stopped filing anti-abortion bills.

“They saw us coming,” Del. Kathleen Murphy, D-Fairfax, said Monday as she stood with most of the 11 new Democratic female delegates carried to victory last year by a wave of female activism.

After the women’s marches over the weekend in cities throughout the country, Democratic politicians and activists sought to carry the energy to the state Capitol Monday. At their morning news conference, House Democrats also touted bills to end the state sales tax on tampons and other feminine hygiene products and require instruction on sexual consent in high-school family life courses.

Speaking to a rally outside the statehouse, Gov. Ralph Northam — who attended a women’s march Saturday in Richmond and at one point put on one of the movement’s emblematic knitted hats — credited women for last year’s election results and urged attendees to keep going to the polls.

Read more: http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/general-assembly/as-women-s-wave-comes-to-assembly-house-dems-look/article_6579d746-67e2-5744-9007-5e3de0360058.html