Virginia lawmakers have rejected a final effort to pass a constitutional amendment that would allow voters in the state to decide whether or not to enshrine the “right” to abortion in the state’s constitution.
Though the House Courts of Justice subcommittee rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion rights last week after a vote along party lines, Del. Marcus Simon proposed a rule change in an effort to force a floor vote on the issue. But after much debate, a motion to defeat Simon’s resolution was proposed and approved 50-45.
“Voters need to know where we stand on this issue because we have elections coming up in November,” Simon said on the floor. “They deserve to see us vote, see how we vote, see what we think on this issue. We need to have this vote so they can see and they can make up their minds for themselves when November comes.”
WRIC reports that the proposed amendment would have enshrined abortion access by allowing women the “right to make and effectuate one’s own decisions about all matters related to one’s pregnancy.”
The only exception would have been if there was a “compelling state interest,” defined as “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 amendment needed to pass two years in a row to make it onto the ballot, with an election in between.
Many legislators spoke against the amendment, noting that it would effectively allow abortions up to birth.
“Let us be honest and direct about exactly what this proposed amendment to our constitution would do,” Del. Kathy Byron said. “It would remove all restrictions on abortion, including the parental notification requirement and prohibitions on taxpayer-funded abortions.”
Todd Gathje, Family Foundation Director of Government Relations, also previously spoke against a constitutional amendment. “Any pro-life efforts to try and protect the unborn life would essentially be eliminated or would fail because of this constitutional amendment. This has serious repercussions in Virginia if this were ever to be adopted,” he said.
Sen. Jennifer McClellan previously said in support of the amendment, “As someone who nearly died at childbirth, and now sees that my daughter, when she reaches childbearing years, may not have the same rights I had in our federal constitution. I am determined that she will have those rights in our state constitution.”
Likewise, Del. Charniele Herring said in a statement, “The choice to have an abortion is a personal decision between a person who is pregnant and their doctors… not themselves, their doctors, and state legislators. This is about cementing the rights already laid out in Virginia code — nothing about this amendment is more extreme than that.”
Del. Byron argued that the blockage of the amendment would not be harmful to pregnant women as current state law already allows abortion in cases when the life and health of the mother are at risk, though induced abortion is never medically necessary.
Under current state law, abortion is allowed up until 26 weeks and six days — and after that point when three doctors conclude the pregnancy would likely “result in the death of the woman or substantially and irremediably impair the mental or physical health of the woman.” Life support must be given to any newborn born alive during an abortion who has “visible evidence of viability,” though babies born as young as 21 weeks are capable of surviving outside the womb when given medical assistance.
