Changing Virginia’s constitution is a years-long process, but it would ultimately end up in the hands of voters whether abortion access becomes a part of the Commonwealth’s constitution. News4’s Drew Wilder reports.
Virginia Democrats have pre-filed an ambitious proposal that would cement access to abortion rights in the Commonwealth's constitution.
It's the start of a years-long process that would ultimately fall to voters, not the state governor. But with uncertainty around how lax restrictions would be under the Democrats' plan, and vehement objections from state Republicans, there's a long road ahead.
The state Democrats are heading into the new year in lockstep, with control of both chambers of the General Assembly.
Party members in the House and the Senate have filed identical versions of a resolution to add the right to abortion into Virginia's Constitution.
"The voters have spoken, and they care about things like reproductive freedom and abortion rights," said state Sen. Jennifer Boysko, who represents Fairfax County.
Democrats tried a nearly identical constitutional amendment last session, but Senate Republicans killed it, calling it extreme.
As of 2023, Virginia allows abortions through the second trimester -- and, in limited instances, in the third trimester.
The new constitutional amendment doesn't have any language related to trimesters, and says an abortion could only be restricted "by a compelling state interest."
Virginia Republicans, this session and last session, said the amendment would "enshrine a right to unrestricted late-term abortion on demand," calling it a "far more radical policy than the existing limit of 26 weeks."
But Boysko said that the state GOP is fear mongering.
"The state currently limits abortion after the second trimester in Virginia," Boysko said, when asked whether the new amendment would supersede or enshrine the current law. "We would not expect the amendment to change that."
"However, it's important to remember, as I just said, there are instances where a healthcare provider's determination is that an abortion is needed to avert a risk to a person's life or their health," Boysko continued. "And when that happens, at any point in the pregnancy, it's important to remember that the patient has immediate access to necessary healthcare."
Amending Virginia's constitution is a long process.
Any amendment must pass both chambers of the General Assembly to even begin the process. Then it sits until after the next election, when the next legislature must pass the same bill again. Only then does the amendment go to voters as a ballot question.
But even that might make the amendment more likely to cross the finish line than ratification inside the Commonwealth's state houses.
"One of the realities that we sometimes see in politics these days is that popular ideas don't necessarily reach a consensus across party lines," said Stephen Farnsworth, political scientist at the University of Mary Washington. "So going to the voters might be a way to resolve, once and for all, some of these issues."
Farnsworth says it's possible the version of the amendment that's already been filed could change a few times before Democrats start the process of trying to make reproductive healthcare and rights more accessible.
The earliest a constitutional amendment on abortion rights could appear on your ballot is November 2026.
