What Would the Abortion Amendment Actually Do?

• Creates a Broad and Vague Right to “Reproductive Freedom” and “Fertility Care” for "Every Individual," including Minors. The amendment grants the right to "every individual," raising questions about parental notification, parental consent, and how the amendment would apply to minors. Beyond this, the amendment does not define the terms included within the definition of “reproductive freedom,” including “fertility care," with the latter potentially implicating procedures affecting reproductive capacity, such as transgender surgeries for minors.

• Weakens Virginia's Existing Third-Trimester Abortion Safeguards. The amendment would replace Virginia's current multi-physician safeguard that currently serves as an additional safeguard for women’s health by requiring independent medical review before later-term abortions may proceed. This amendment would eliminate that layer of protection and instead rely on the judgment of a single physician.

• Reduces Accountability and Diminishes Oversight. The amendment limits the Commonwealth's ability to regulate those who facilitate abortions, raises questions involving coercion and forged consent, and does not expressly preserve accountability for negligent abortion providers.

• Creates a "No-Guardrails" Constitutional Framework for the Abortion Industry. By tying the Virginia Constitution to "accepted clinical standards of care" and "evidence-based medicine," the amendment would give the profit-driven, abortion industry the power to self-regulate in Virginia.

• Could Undermine Protections for Infants Born Alive During an Abortion. Because the amendment broadly prohibits the Commonwealth from burdening or interfering with the newly created constitutional right to abortion, providing life-saving care to an infant born alive during an abortion could be interpreted to burden that “constitutional right.”