The will of the people is the basis of American law according to the history books and the U.S. Constitution, but when it comes to the issue of abortion, Virginians are seeing the peoples’ voices ignored and the campaign contributions of abortion promoters holding sway in the chambers of the commonwealth’s government.

 

With an arrogance that would be shocking on any other issue, pro-abortion Democrats, with only a one-vote majority in both chambers of the General Assembly (GA), voted to pass a resolution to support an amendment to the Virginia Constitution so radical that it would ultimately overturn Virginia’s parental notice laws, allow abortion through all nine months of pregnancy with virtually no regulation, and force  Virginia taxpayers to pay for every abortion under state Medicaid programs. It would also prevent future legislation that could protect women and girls from being coerced to have abortions and would toss away any sort of conscience rights for health professionals who hold ethical objections to participating in abortions.

 

For months before the opening of the 2025 General Assembly session, thousands of concerned pro-life citizens sent messages in opposition to the proposed extreme “Abortions Until Birth” amendment. In a House committee hearing held in advance of the session—mid-week and at short notice—over 60 people showed up to oppose the resolution. In a show of opposition, more than 50 pro-life citizens came again to the Senate hearing during the first week of the 2025 session, lining the halls, filling the galleries, and standing in line in committees all day to be voices for the voiceless unborn, and still, the texts, emails, and phone calls kept pouring into offices.

Finally, last week, only one week after the March for Life in Washington, D.C., close to 400 pro-lifers from all over Virginia attended the 4th annual Virginia Pro-life Day to meet in person with their Senators and Delegates. The halls were filled with women and men, teens and families, all there to urge Virginia’s legislators to reject the amendment and other pro-abortion bills. They also asked for passage of bills that would help encourage adoption and protect vulnerable mothers and babies, not benefit abortion businesses.
 

To the eternal shame of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the so-called “Fundamental Right to Reproductive Freedom” amendment–which legal analysis has pointed out is really nothing more than an open door to unlimited abortion through all nine months of pregnancy—was passed in both chambers of the GA. The vote was split along party lines: 21 Democrats to 19 Republicans. The debate in both chambers was a testament to the courage of Virginia’s pro-life legislators who argued for the innocent lives who die in abortions and against the recklessness of the amendment which, if it becomes law, will prevent any rational laws about abortion activity in Virginia from ever again being passed.

This completes step one of a three-step legislative process. If the same resolution passes again next year, it will ultimately become a ballot measure in 2026. The best hope for concerned Virginians is to put the brakes on this runaway train and use the 2025 state elections to change the make-up of the House of Delegates. The races for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general also happen in 2025, but unlike other bills, the governor has no authority to veto a constitutional amendment.

 

Pro-life voters must not forget the way that their voices were ignored this winter.

 

Shockingly, during the debate in the Senate, numerous Democrats insisted that all they wanted to do was enshrine the status quo, which in Virginia is already very broad and allows abortion with no restrictions through the 26th week of pregnancy and limited regulation after that. To show just how far Democrats were willing to go with their position, Republicans in the Senate offered two amendments to the Resolution that would protect Virginia’s parental consent law and allow the Commonwealth to pass a bill in the future to protect babies who are born alive during an abortion. Both amendments were defeated 21 to 19 and, once again, no Democrat voted for the amendments. The claim by Democrat proponents that Virginia’s current pro-life laws are protected was shot down on the floor of the Senate when pro-life Republican Senators forced pro-abortion Democrat Senators to concede that a state constitutional amendment overrides any state law. 

Pro-abortion promoters and organizations are crowing about this turn of events. They feel secure that they can continue to keep the public in the dark about just how dreadfully dangerous this amendment really is. They point to polls that suggest that a majority of Virginians think that abortion should remain legal in the Commonwealth. These polls never explain that the resolution passed this session will remove all possibility of passing protective regulations on the practice of abortion or the distribution of chemical abortion drugs. These polls don’t tell respondents that this extreme, unlimited abortion until birth amendment will remove even the simplest provisions of the current law that regulate how and when abortions may be done in the third trimester of pregnancy.

 

Not one poll question so far has asked what was acknowledged by legal counsel in the House committee: that the vague language of the resolution will invite challenges to Virginia’s parental consent law. Polls also don’t explain just how liberal the laws in Virginia already are.

Sadly, many people in America believe nowadays that abortion is a necessary evil. They are drinking the Kool-Aid being poured down America’s throat every day by mainstream media outlets and abortion organizations that claim again and again that abortion is a much-needed component of women’s health care. Tragically many families carry stories with them that include a loved one’s emergency pregnancy or a sad untold secret of a personal pregnancy crisis. Is it any wonder then that they now believe that abortions are needed but only in emergencies? It is doubtful that the majority truly think abortion should be legal throughout pregnancy for any reason. It is also not true that abortion is good medicine during an emergency. In fact, according to the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, it is usually the most dangerous thing to do. Yet these truths are rarely mentioned.

The most disturbing part of this mindset is that the person most directly affected by every abortion is the baby. The arguments that treat abortion as a common treatment for an unwanted physical condition ignore—as they always have—the unborn child who will lose her life. Perhaps the most powerful statements made in the Virginia Capitol last month by pro-life members were those that brought the babies into the conversation. The debate could not ignore those lives thanks to the voices of pro-life delegates and senators. In the end, pro-abortion members simply turned a deaf ear.

If Virginia is going to stop the radical pro-abortion juggernaut that our steadfast pro-life legislators faced this year in the General Assembly, Virginians must make it their responsibility to educate everyone they know about this amendment. The good news is that thanks to a complicated process here in the state, there is a good chance to stop the plans of pro-abortion groups and their friends in the government. The November 2025 Virginia elections will allow pro-lifers to get control of the House of Delegates, but only if every churchgoer, faithful Virginian, and concerned parent votes pro-life. There are millions of helpless little ones depending on it!

​

​