Virginia’s long early voting period leading to November is well underway to decide a U.S. Senate seat and local congressional races. In addition, three attempts to amend Virginia’s state constitution by Democrats presently controlling the State House in Richmond are before voters.
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The first — Ballot Question 1, the deceptively worded “Reproductive Freedom Amendment” — seeks to amend Virginia’s state constitution to establish abortion on demand as a “fundamental right” all the way up to birth for “every individual,” to include minors with virtually no restrictions.
Abortion is already legal and accessible in Virginia within certain guardrails. It is presently legal through 26 weeks and six days of pregnancy. In the third trimester, it is banned unless three doctors certify that the woman’s life or her physical or mental health is in danger, while young women under 18 need a parent’s or guardian’s consent.
Further, Virginia is the only state in the South without a post-Roe abortion ban, and after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, Virginia has become something of an abortion access state for pregnant women across the southern United States. Some 38,000 are occurring annually in the state, while post-Dobbs there has already been a 30-percent increase in out-of-state abortions in Virginia.
Why then do Virginia Democrats seek to go far beyond current Virginia law — already among the least restrictive in the nation — to amend Virginia’s constitution with a decidedly more extreme abortion regime?
Amending a state’s constitution — any state’s — is foundational and would be long-lasting. Once embedded in a state’s constitution, an amendment becomes extremely difficult (involving a lengthy process) to reverse and could shape the legal framework of the Commonwealth for generations.
Among possible of the proposed amendment that would far exceed current Virginia law governing abortion include the following:
– No age limits are specified — especially for minors — thereby negating parents’ involvement, authority, and consent for health care decisions affecting their children.
– The only compelling interest is for the life of the mother, not the preborn child. Consideration for the life of the unborn is disregarded as a state interest.
– Allows abortions throughout all three trimesters on viable babies, and requires only one physician’s approval — the one performing the abortion.
– Creates a path to enable unlicensed abortion providers to threaten the health of mothers and even healthy babies up until birth, as well as shield “any individual” who assists in an abortion from legal consequences.
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– Contains purposefully broad and vague language allowing only protections and enforcement in favor of the abortion industry.
– Contains no provisions for life-sustaining measures for infants born alive during late-stage abortions.
– Counselors or those objecting to abortions could be arrested or restricted for trespassing designated zones near facilities performing abortions, while doctors could be potentially barred or face disciplinary action for discouraging or counseling against abortion.
Democrats’ proposed “Reproductive Freedom Amendment” does not uphold current Virginia law; it is purposefully intended to far exceed it to protect and promote abortion extremism.
Virginians can debate where the line is drawn on abortion, but amending the state’s constitution to enshrine abortion as a “fundamental right,” as well as be, for example, the only invasive medical procedure a minor could have without required parental permission, reveals the lengths Democrats are willing to go beyond what many Virginians recognize as acceptable limits. When debating language for the proposed constitutional amendment, Democrat legislators even refused proposals requiring a baby born alive after an abortion attempt to receive the same treatment and care as any other infant.
Our society — our culture — by willfully refusing to acknowledge the dignity and sanctity of human life, will inevitably create excuses for, or not respond to, moral consequences when human life is diminished, violated, or destroyed. If killing a fully formed and viable baby inside a mother’s womb does not elicit moral and ethical trepidation, would it then be any shock when some might morally excuse the act of killing a baby outside the womb sometime later? When one rationalizes away or ignores the moral consequences of taking the life of an unborn child, does it then become easier and more likely for society to accept, even excuse, it in other circumstances? The elderly? The infirm? The disabled?
If “every individual” — regardless of age — then has a constitutionally enshrined “fundamental right” to abortion, what becomes society’s next target? It should not surprise if the proposed language of the “Reproductive Freedom Amendment” is further used to allege that mandatory parental rights and involvement somehow abridge “every individual’s … fundamental right” to manage his “fertility care” — e.g., to yield to sterilization without parental involvement or consent.
Think it cannot happen in Virginia?
Under the previous Democrat administration, there were already cases where school districts facilitated “gender transitions” (often involving life-altering actions) without parents knowing and even districts insisting parents not be informed without the minor’s consent. When Republican Governor Youngkin countered by promoting model state policies emphasizing parental involvement, a small number of school districts would not comply.
What becomes of present Virginia law concerning abortions? For Virginians who support abortion, abortion is legal and will realistically — within accepted and established guardrails — remain legal regardless in the Commonwealth of Virginia. That stated, the idea of Virginia’s state constitution mandating a “fundamental right” to an abortion for “every individual” must not be allowed to supersede a common belief in the most fundamental and foundational of all our rights — the “right to life.”
The unborn — the most vulnerable of human lives among us — cannot defend themselves against such an assault by the state. Voters of conscience, reason, and moral clarity must. Virginians of good conscience must vote “No” to stop the brazen political overreach of Ballot Question 1. The future of new generations of Virginians depend on it.
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