Virginia lawmakers advance amendment that would allow third-trimester abortions

Lawmakers in Virginia have authorized a constitutional modification that may set up a proper to abortion all through all 9 months of being pregnant, taking step one of their push to make sure that it goes earlier than voters by the top of the last decade.

In a 21-19 vote Tuesday, the Democrat-controlled Virginia Senate authorized Senate Joint Decision 247 alongside celebration strains. All Democrats within the higher chamber voted to advance the proposed constitutional modification, whereas all Republicans voted in opposition to it.

The passage paves the best way for the Virginia Common Meeting to weigh in on a proposal that may amend the Virginia Structure for a second time following the subsequent basic election, scheduled to happen this November.

The proposed modification to the Virginia Invoice of Rights would set up a “Elementary Proper to Reproductive Freedom,” declaring that “each particular person has the basic proper to reproductive freedom, together with the flexibility to make and perform choices relating to 1’s personal prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, abortion care, miscarriage administration, and fertility care.”

“A person’s proper to reproductive freedom shall not be, straight or not directly, denied, burdened, or infringed upon until justified by a compelling state curiosity achieved by the least restrictive means,” the proposed modification additionally states. 

Whereas the proposal stresses that “the Commonwealth might regulate the supply of abortion care within the third trimester,” it prohibits the regulation of abortion in instances the place a doctor determines it’s essential to “shield the life or bodily or psychological well being of the pregnant particular person” or as a result of “the fetus isn’t viable.”

The Virginia Senate rejected an modification to the proposal launched by Republican state Sen. Emily Jordan that may make clear that “Within the occasion of a dwell beginning of an toddler, together with when an abortion process ends in the dwell beginning of an toddler, such toddler shall be thought of a authorized individual for all functions underneath the legal guidelines of this Commonwealth and entitled to the complete safety of such legal guidelines.”

The modification additionally proclaimed that “An toddler born alive following an abortion process has the identical declare to the authorized rights and protections as all individuals within the Commonwealth and shall be offered the identical degree of care and therapy as any toddler or individual looking for care and therapy in a medical facility.”

The rejection of Jordan’s modification fell alongside celebration strains, with all Republicans voting in favor of it and all Democrats opposing it. 

One other modification, proposed by Republican state Sen. Tara Durant, was additionally rejected. The modification would add textual content to the Virginia Structure stating that “the Commonwealth’s parental consent legal guidelines shall stay in impact, and the Commonwealth might regulate the supply of abortion care and gender-affirming care to minors.” The vote to reject Durant’s modification additionally got here down alongside celebration strains. 

The Virginia Senate authorized Senate Joint Decision 247 lower than per week after the Democrat-controlled Virginia Home of Delegates authorized Home Joint Decision 1 in a 51-48 vote that fell alongside celebration strains. The textual content of Home Joint Decision 1 is almost equivalent to the textual content of Senate Joint Decision 247, with solely minor adjustments reflecting that it originated within the Home and never the Senate. 

The joint resolutions handed in each chambers of the Virginia Common Meeting included a reference to Article XII of the Virginia Structure, which states that proposed amendments to the state’s structure should obtain the help of a majority of members of each the Senate and Home of Delegates in two consecutive legislative classes.

If the proposed constitutional modification is authorized by members of each chambers within the subsequent legislative session, which begins following this yr’s basic election, it have to be submitted to the voters for approval.

“The stakes of Virginia’s legislative elections this November simply obtained larger,” Caitlin Connors, regional director for the nationwide pro-life advocacy group Susan B. Anthony Professional-Life America, stated in an announcement Tuesday. “Virginia already permits abortion within the sixth month of being pregnant, however that is not sufficient for Democrats.”

“Republicans should maintain Democrats accountable for supporting abortion within the third trimester, the top of parental consent and denying abortion survivors the correct of lifesaving care,” Connors added.

All 100 seats of the Virginia Home of Delegates are up in November’s basic election. Members of the Virginia Senate don’t have to run for re-election once more till 2027, which means the push for the modification will rely solely on which celebration holds management of the Home of Delegates. Republicans not too long ago had management of the chamber from 2022-2024. 

The push to create a constitutional proper to abortion in Virginia marks the most recent try and enshrine a proper to abortion right into a state structure following the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s 2022 determination in Dobbs v. Jackson Girls’s Well being Group. The excessive court docket decided that the U.S. Structure doesn’t include a proper to abortion. California, Michigan and Vermont voters authorized such measures in 2022 whereas Ohio voters adopted go well with in 2023. 

In 2024, voters in seven states authorized measures establishing rights to abortion of their respective constitutions both straight or not directly: Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and New York. In the meantime, efforts to enshrine a proper to abortion within the constitutions of Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota got here up quick.