The Virginia General Assembly has passed a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion as a right in the state. The amendment now goes before voters.
Both the state House and Senate passed the amendment last week.
The measure declares that “every individual has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including the ability to make and carry out decisions relating to one’s own prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, abortion care, miscarriage management, and fertility care.”
“An individual’s right to reproductive freedom shall not be, directly or indirectly, denied, burdened, or infringed upon unless justified by a compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means,” it reads.
If Virginia voters move in support of the proposed amendment, the state will become the 11th to enshrine abortion. Other states with abortion protections include California, Michigan, Vermont, Ohio, Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, and New York.
Virginia bishops condemned the amendment, calling it “radical” and “extreme.”
“It would enshrine virtually unlimited abortion at any stage of pregnancy, with no age restriction,” Bishops Michael Burbidge of Arlington and Barry Knestout of Richmond said in a statement. “Among numerous other problems, it would severely jeopardize Virginia’s parental consent law, health and safety standards for women, conscience protections for healthcare providers, and restrictions on taxpayer-funded abortions. Most tragically of all, the extreme abortion amendment provides no protections whatsoever for preborn children.”
Del. Wren Williams said in a video shared by Virginia House Republicans that state leaders “sure weren’t talking about kitchen-table issues that people actually care about.”
“Instead we were talking about enshrining abortion in the Virginia Constitution, automatic restoration of voting rights for felons, the removal of gay marriage from our Constitution, and finally the absolute rigging of the redistricting in Virginia this year,” he said.
