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Can economic (i.e., limited government) conservatives and social conservatives get along, at least long enough, to coalesce around shared principles in a coalition to restore government to its proper scope and role? What are those shared principles and how do they complement each other? Should there by a truce on social issues in the 2012 presidential campaign? Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb and host Scott Lee discuss these issues on the Score Radio Network. The interview was aired on radio stations around Virginia and streamed on various Internet services on April 16. Now it is archived at SRN’s Web site. The interview lasts a little more than 11 minutes and we think you will enjoy it.

Click here to listen to TFF President Victoria Cobb’s interview on the Score Radio Network.

Family Foundation of Virginia President Victoria Cobb will appear on the Score Radio Network Saturday (or, perhaps, another time in your market, check local listings as they say), with host Scott Lee. Score is a new statewide conservative media company headed by three of Virginia’s most experienced conservative new media commentators. It provides online and over-the-air media services and content. Score’s affiliates are WLEE-AM/990 in Richmond (8:00 a.m. Saturday), WLNI-105.9FM in Lynchburg, and WMBG-AM740 in Williamsburg. For those not in those markets, it also can be heard on those stations’ web sites as well as on Internet radio sites NetTalkWorld.com, the CB Media Network and Ghost Fighting Network as well as on SRN itself as an archive (see affiliate information here). We hope to have the download here next week as well. Victoria will discuss this past session of the General Assembly and other issues involving the conservative movement.

The pro-abortion forces in Virginia are nothing if not masters at hyperbole. That, or downright Orwellian. Today, they held a news conference at the General Assembly Building to reinforce their message of choice since their stunning defeat on the abortion center regulation bill: That limiting abortions, and thus saving the most innocent among us, is “an attack on women’s health.” Among attendees were a who’s who of the General Assembly pro-abortion crowd: Senators Donald McEachin and Mary Margaret Whipple; and Delegates Patrick Hope, David Englin, Jennier McClellan, Scott Surovell, Adam Ebbin, Onzlee Ware, Vivian Watts and Charniele Herring — the so-called “Reproductive Health Caucus.”

They were joined not only by Planned Parenthood and NARAL, but by the ACLU and the League of Women’s Voters, whose representative enthusiastically gave herself a shout-out when Delegate Herring failed to recognize her. What abortion “rights” has to do with registering women to vote is anyone’s guess, but that moment was the most exciting thing at what had to be the most uneventful news conference in General Assembly history — nothing more than introductions, a statement by Delegate Herring, and a story by a woman whose situation was not relevant to the exchanges. Not even a question by one of the two or three members of the press who attended. Even the distributed prepared press statements were boring. Sorry, but no video, excerpted quotes, nor links worth citing. Even Planned Parenthood’s e-mail alert left a lot to be desired. An indication that the tide is turning? We’ll find out tomorrow when our electeds vote to sustain or reject two pro-life amendments passed down by Governor Bob McDonnell: One, to HB 2434, to prohibit taxpayer funding of abortion in the new state health insurance exchanges mandated by the federal healthcare law; and another, a budget amendment, restoring abstinence education funding that former Governor Tim Kaine eliminated.

These votes promise to be very close in the Senate tomorrow during the “Veto Session.” Please contact your senator Wednesday morning and ask him or her to vote for each.

Click here if you know your senator and need his or her phone number.

Click here if you don’t know who your senator is.

Meanwhile, here’s more coverage on the health insurance exchange amendment, from the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot (here) and below, from WTVR-TV/CBS6 in Richmond. Both feature comments from Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb.

An explosive article on the front page of today’s Norfolk Virginian Pilot rips the cover off a Virginia Beach abortion center owned by a New Jersey doctor under investigation for a host of questionable activities. The article also reveals that doctors associated with the clinic also are on staff at Planned Parenthood centers in Virginia. The story is more evidence of the need for abortion center regulation in Virginia.

The Family Foundation has informed legislators, media and the public about Dr. Steven Brigham’s ties to Virginia for some time now, and reminded lawmakers last month during the General Assembly debate over abortion center regulations, which eventually passed on a historic 21-20 Senate vote. Brigham lost his license to practice medicine in New Jersey recently for beginning second and third trimester abortions in that state and then transporting the patients to his Maryland facility to complete the procedure, but his history of unethical behavior dates back at least to the early-90s.

According to NJ.com:

On Aug. 13 [2010], three women seeking second-trimester abortions followed physician Steven Brigham from his Camden County office to a Maryland clinic he owns, according to claims by the attorney general’s office. They were wracked with contractions as they traveled because Brigham had given them labor-inducing drugs a day or two earlier, the state said. In Maryland, the women met another doctor, who performed their procedures. One of the women, 18, needed emergency surgery at a hospital to treat a lacerated bowel and uterus.

Family Foundation research found that Brigham’s Virginia abortion centers (Virginia Beach and Fairfax) advertised similar options on its websites, stating that they would begin the procedure in the Virginia clinics and then transport the patients to other states “for the completion of the procedure.” Virginia requires second and third trimester abortions to be done in hospitals for the health and safety of the women involved.

Another op-ed on abortion center regulations by Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb, in Tuesday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch, tells some of the story. She also published an op-ed on this issue in the Roanoke Times a few days earlier.

Today’s Pilot article goes deeper, connecting doctors who worked at Brigham’s Virginia Beach facilities with Planned Parenthood. Our research found that one, Dr. David Peters, lists his business address as one of Planned Parenthood’s Richmond abortion centers. In the New Jersey incident, Planned Parenthood attempted to distance itself from Brigham. A spokesperson said it “had nothing to do with” Brigham. In Virginia, nothing could be further from the truth.

Peters defends the Brigham clinic in today’s article, even denying that the clinic does what its website advertises. He does admit, however, that instead of referring women to a hospital for a second or third trimester abortion, as required by law for safety reasons, Brigham’s abortion centers refer them to other states to avoid hospitals. Either way, it’s clear that the health and safety of patients isn’t paramount.

Another doctor the article named as working for Brigham in Virginia has a long history of restrictions on, and suspensions of, his license to practice medicine in Virginia, yet presently holds a current and active Virginia license. The article only touches on the mistakes made by Dr. Craig Cropp, but our research found at least 22 separate incidents since 1998 where he put the life of patients in jeopardy, from breaking instruments and losing pieces inside a woman’s abdominal cavity, to misdiagnosing ectopic pregnancies, to perforating a woman’s uterus (and blaming that one on his bifocals). Incredibly, Dr. Cropp still is licensed to practice medicine here and splits his time between Brigham’s two Virginia abortion centers.

Unfortunately, the Commonwealth of Virginia cannot revoke Dr. Brigham’s license to practice medicine in Virginia because he doesn’t have a medical license in Virginia. In fact, without the New Jersey story and subsequent research by The Family Foundation, it is unlikely anyone would know about Dr. Brigham’s Virginia abortion centers because the Commonwealth does not currently regulate or inspect abortion centers. Today’s Virginian-Pilot article is the first investigative piece in the Virginia media since the New Jersey story broke in the fall.

The abortion industry claims abortion is a safe procedure in no need of oversight. Today’s story about Dr. Brigham and his abortion centers is just one example of why abortion center safety regulations are desperately needed in Virginia. While Planned Parenthood, NARAL and their allies in the legislature claimed during debate that their centers are safe, they knew that Dr. Brigham was operating in Virginia. Your head has to be buried pretty deep in the sand to believe anything Planned Parenthood has to say about the safety of abortion after today’s shocking article.

Today, the Roanoke Times published an op-ed by Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb that addresses the myths pro-abortion activists and some in the media have propagated about the abortion center regulation bill recently passed by the General Assembly. Herewith, an excerpt of the op-ed. The entire column can be read by clicking here.

First, the myth that abortion centers will now have to meet the same regulatory standards as general hospitals is simply untrue. Abortion centers will not necessarily be subject to the licensing requirements or the construction standards of general hospitals.

In Virginia, there are numerous categories of “hospitals,” including general (or inpatient), psychiatric, rehabilitation, outpatient surgical and others. Outpatient surgical centers, for example, are a category of hospital, but are not subject to the same regulations as general hospitals.

Similarly, abortion centers will now be subject to regulations specifically tailored to that procedure.

Second, the myth that regulations are automatically unconstitutional is inaccurate. In fact, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, in which Virginia resides, upheld South Carolina abortion center regulations in Greenville Women’s Clinic v. Bryant.

Regulations there include licensing requirements, staffing rules, specific drug and equipment availability, safety and emergency policies and sanitation procedures, none of which are currently applied to Virginia’s abortion centers.

Third, the myth that the new law will limit abortion access is fallacious. Until 1984, Virginia did regulate abortion centers and, based on the increasing number of abortions at that time, the industry did not suffer.

In addition, considering that Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest private provider of abortion and owner of several Virginia abortion centers, is a $1 billion organization that profited almost $100 million in its last annual report, one would think it could prioritize women’s health and spend some of that money on safety and less on political activity.

Finally, the myth that abortion centers are currently regulated is misleading. Abortion centers in Virginia are viewed by the state as physician’s offices, which is essentially meaningless in that the state does not inspect or license those offices.

The only standard of care in Virginia requires that abortions done in the first trimester be performed by a licensed physician, but the facilities themselves are not required to meet standards. Currently, doctors’ offices in Virginia, and thus abortion centers, do not meet any state-imposed standards of cleanliness, inspections or requirements for life-saving equipment on premises.

Abortion center safety has received increased attention recently due to two unrelated events: a botched abortion originating with New Jersey-based Dr. Steven Brigham and a horror shop abortion center in Philadelphia.

Pro-abortion advocates look at these examples and say, “Tell us of something in Virginia and then maybe we’ll listen.” The fact is that Brigham, who lost his license because he started late-term abortions at his New Jersey clinics and then drove the patients to Maryland to complete them, owns two abortion centers in Virginia and has no Virginia medical license. (He also is not licensed in Maryland.)

Additionally, Brigham’s two Virginia abortion center websites, until exposed by The Family Foundation last month, offered the following surgical abortion procedure: “Surgical abortion patients who are between 14 and 24 weeks pregnant will be referred to our Cheverly [Md.] location after their first appointment for the completion of their procedure.”

Speaking of education choice, yesterday was our annual lobby day. This year’s theme was education choice and we added a rally in Capitol Square as well. The media attention was excellent. Starting the day was an interview on WRVA’s Richmond’s Morning News With Jimmy Barrett, but with an adversarial guest host, Juan Conde of WRIC-TV, sitting in for the decidedly conservative Mr. Barrett. Victoria Cobb, our president, took it all in stride, even when Mr. Conde misunderstood, shall we say, the issue, and claimed HB 2314, if passed, would give “our” money to businesses! The Washington Post also covered the rally on its Virginia Politics Blog, and a Google search reveals publications from The India Times to Forbes picked up the Post’s post, as well as various state television and print media.

Listen to Victoria Cobb’s WRVA interview on school choice from Thursday, February 10 (5:30) on Richmond’s Morning News With Jimmy Barrett.

Since the Washington elitist establishment has never been shy about saying what it thinks of you, use the opportunity of this important election Tuesday to show it what you think about how it has treated our values, our commonwealth and our country the last two years. Make an informed decision and vote.

Here is a 30-second message from Victoria Cobb distributed throughout the commonwealth by our sister organization, Family Foundation Action. Please listen and feel free to share this link on your social media sites and e-mail to fellow church members, friends, family and colleagues throughout the state.

Click here to listen to a message from The Family Foundation Action about Tuesday’s historic mid-term elections.

Last month, our president, Victoria Cobb, appeared at the prestigious The King’s College Distinguished Visitor Series. She was interviewed by The King’s College provost and World Magazine editor-in-chief Marvin Olasky in front of a crowd of the college’s students. That interview and presentation now is available.

To listen to the podcast, click here. We think you will thoroughly enjoy the give and take. 

Here is an interview just made available online that Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb did with Scott and Richard Lee last Saturday on their WRVA-AM/1140 Saturday morning show in Richmond. It is 6:10 long and covers the upcoming 25th Anniversary Celebration Gala this Saturday as well as some of the organizations we butt heads with at the General Assembly, such as Planned Parenthood, the Virginia Education Association and the ACLU. We hope you take some time to listen. 

Click this link to hear Victoria Cobb and The Lee Brothers (6:10) on WRVA-AM/1140. 

Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb appeared the other day on WTVR/CBS6 to speak about the new Gardasil vaccine controversy.

Victoria Cobb speaks to the WTVR-TV about the latest on Gardasil.