Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday that embeds a “fundamental right” to abortion up until the moment of birth, after pro-abortion groups spent millions of dollars on advertising.
The Associated Press called the race for the amendment around 9:01 p.m. with about 63 percent of the vote counted.
Unfortunately, it looks like the Virginia will have abortions up to birth.
The pro-abortion side spent over $5 million to buy another state. https://t.co/6nv9UQ1Nge
— LifeNews.com (@LifeNewsHQ) November 4, 2026
The amendment, Question 1, adds language to the Virginia Constitution declaring that every individual has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including the ability to make decisions about prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, abortion care, miscarriage management, and fertility care.
It shields patients and medical providers from punishment for those decisions.
While the text allows the state to regulate abortion in the third trimester, it prohibits any ban when a physician determines in their “professional judgment” that the procedure is medically necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual, or when the fetus is not viable.
The mental-health exception and single-physician standard effectively permit abortions throughout the third trimester for virtually any reason.
Under existing Virginia law, abortion is generally available through the second trimester, roughly 27 to 28 weeks, with tighter restrictions afterward that required a treating physician and two consulting physicians to attest that continuing the pregnancy would likely result in the woman’s death or substantially and irremediably impair her mental or physical health.
The new amendment lowers that threshold to the judgment of one physician and removes the requirement for consulting doctors.
Opponents, including Olivia Gans Turner of the Virginia Society for Human Life, described the wording as deliberately deceptive in a statement to LifeNews.
“The most insidious threat to our right to pass the laws needed to protect women and their children… dressed up as a legitimate measure in innocuous language that hides the full effect,” Turner said, adding that the measure is “not about protecting women’s safe reproductive care” but about making abortion up to birth permanent.
LifeNews reported that the pro-abortion side spent as much as $5 million on the campaign.
The amendment takes effect upon certification with a simple majority vote and does not require further action by the General Assembly or the governor.
A legal challenge seeking to block certification is scheduled for a hearing on November 13.
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