The amendment protects abortion, contraception and fertility care and changes the rules for third-trimester abortions. Opponents have a court hearing set for Nov. 13.
By EEW Magazine Online Editors
A voter holds a sample ballot outside a polling place at the Gari Melchers Complex in Fredericksburg, Va., on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. Virginians approved a state constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights. (Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
Virginia voters wrote abortion rights into the state constitution Tuesday, approving an amendment that places a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” in the Bill of Rights. Once the results are certified, only another constitutional amendment can undo those protections. Opponents are already headed to a Tazewell County courtroom, where a hearing to block the results is set for next week.
The Associated Press called the race shortly after 9 p.m., according to VPM. With nearly all localities reporting, Ballot Question 1 passed about 62% to 38%, according to state figures reported by Cardinal News.
The amendment covers abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage management, prenatal care, childbirth and postpartum care. It bars the state from penalizing anyone for exercising those rights or for pregnancy outcomes such as miscarriage and stillbirth. It also protects people who help others obtain care with their consent.
Virginia already allows abortion through the second trimester. It is the only Southern state without a ban or deep restrictions since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The amendment’s biggest change involves the third trimester.
A participant holds a sign during the Women’s March “Hold the Line for Abortion Justice” rally at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Dec. 1, 2021. Virginia voters approved a state constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights Tuesday. (Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Women’s March Inc)
Under current law, a third-trimester abortion is allowed only if the patient could die, if continuing the pregnancy could severely impair her health or if the pregnancy cannot survive. Three doctors must agree. The amendment lets the state regulate abortion in that period. It bars the state from prohibiting one when a physician finds it medically necessary for the patient’s life, physical health or mental health, or when the fetus is not viable.
Lois Shepherd, a University of Virginia professor of health law and bioethics, told Cardinal News the three-doctor rule “probably is in conflict” with the amendment, though she could not say how a court would rule. Josh Hetzler, legal counsel for The Family Foundation, argued the amendment would cut that review from three doctors to one. Both said existing laws would not change on their own. Someone would have to sue, and a judge would have to rule.
“We have seen women die as a result of not getting access to care,” Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, told WTVR in Richmond before the election. House Majority Leader Charniele Herring, an Alexandria Democrat who sponsored the amendment, told WTVR that Virginians should be able to make decisions about contraception, fertility treatment and pregnancy without political interference.
The Virginia Catholic Conference and the Catholic dioceses of Arlington and Richmond campaigned against the measure, citing concerns about unborn life, parental authority and medical safeguards. Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation of Virginia, warned it would put the state’s parental consent law for minors at risk.
“The moment that Virginians make a bad decision and put this into the Constitution, you’ll have litigation,” Cobb told WTVR.
Herring said the amendment does not directly address parental consent and that the current law would stay in place. Shepherd said she does not expect the amendment to wipe out parental consent across the board. Hetzler argued it would apply equally to minors.
About 9,000 abortions in Virginia last year were for patients from other states, roughly a fifth of the total, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Missouri, Nevada and Idaho also decided abortion measures Tuesday, as EEW reported.
The court challenge comes from the Founding Freedoms Law Center, the legal arm of Cobb’s Family Foundation, and Hetzler is one of its lawyers. The lawsuit claims lawmakers did not follow the proper approval process and that the ballot language was misleading. It asks a judge to block certification at the Nov. 13 hearing, according to the Virginia Mercury.
“The fight’s not over,” Jessi Blakely, state director for Family Foundation Action, told VPM on election night. If certified, the amendment takes effect Jan. 1, 2027.