Virginia lawmakers filed a proposed constitutional amendment on Monday that would enshrine the “right” to abortion in the state’s constitution.
The National Review reports that the amendment was pre-filed by Delegate Charniele Herring, a Democrat serving as the House’s new majority leader.
“Throughout the campaign cycle, we told Virginians that a Democratic majority meant that abortion access would be protected,” Herring said. “It has become all too clear that without constitutional protection, access to reproductive health care is at risk.”
The proposed amendment reads (emphasis added):
This right to make and effectuate one’s own decisions about all matters related to one’s pregnancy shall not be denied, burdened, or infringed upon, unless justified by a compelling state interest and achieved by the least restrictive means that do not infringe an individual’s autonomous decision-making.
A state interest is compelling only when it is to ensure the protection of the health of an individual seeking care, consistent with accepted clinical standards of practice and evidence-based medicine. The Commonwealth shall not discriminate in the protection or enforcement of this fundamental right.
The Virginia Society for Human Life (VSHL) warns that should this amendment pass, it would undo many of the state’s pro-life protections, removing the parental consent law and partial-birth abortion law, while requiring taxpayers to fund abortions under Medicaid programs.
It would also legalize abortion up to birth, as it does not consider the rights of the preborn child at any point in gestation.
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“It is obvious that the new Democrat majority in Richmond has no regard for the unborn children who will be killed because of this amendment. This amendment would interpret any commonsense protective regulation, including safety rules about who may perform an abortion, as burdensome,” said Olivia Gans Turner, VSHL president.
Solidifying abortion access through constitutional amendments has become the abortion industry’s post-Roe strategy. Similar efforts to undo pro-life protections and expand abortion have been seen in Ohio, California, Vermont, and Michigan — all of which have solidified the “right” to abortion in the state amendments since the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, any changes to the Virginia state constitution must first pass the state legislature in two different years, with a popular vote for the House of Delegates in between, then go before voters in a state referendum. Because the next election in the House occurs in 2025, the earliest any potential state referendum could occur is in 2026.
Lawmakers will first consider the amendment when the General Assembly meets in January.
