Virginia Senate advances constitutional amendments on reproductive rights, voting rights, and same-sex marriage

The three resolutions will again be taken up by the General Assembly in 2026, after House elections this fall.

Three state constitutional amendments officially cleared a major hurdle today on the long road to becoming a reality. 

A week after the Virginia House passed them, the Virginia Senate today passed three constitutional amendments on reproductive rights, voting rights, and same-sex marriage. 

The resolutions for the three amendments will again have to pass both chambers of the General Assembly in 2026, and if they do so successfully, they can then be voted on in state-wide referendums that year. The fate of these amendments hangs in the balance of the upcoming elections this fall when all 100 House of Delegates seats will be on ballots across the commonwealth. If Democrats lose their narrow majorities in either chamber, it would make it much harder to get the resolutions passed. 

One resolution would get rid of language in the state constitution defining marriage as being between a man and women, which federal law has made defunct. Another resolution would make it so people convicted of felonies who have served their time can get their voting rights automatically restored, rather than having to petition the governor. The third resolution would add reproductive rights to the state constitution. 

The intensity of the debate over the reproductive rights amendment at this early stage suggests Virginians will be in for an intense election cycle this year and in 2026. 

Democrats want to add affirmative protections for reproductive rights in the state constitution in response to the Dobbs decision that overturned the federal right to an abortion. The ruling unleashed a conservative crackdown on women’s reproductive health that has become so severe that it’s cost women their lives. 

“We are living in a dystopian and post-Dobbs world,” Sen. Ghazala Hashmi said on the Senate floor today. “Private and difficult medical decisions are seen through the lens of politics rather than health care.”

Senate Republicans today stressed their concerns that the state constitutional amendment would undermine parental rights because it would give every “individual” the right to reproductive freedom, rather than specifying the right is for adults. 

Virginia Republicans like state Sen. Tara Durant argued that plenty of state laws and societal norms recognize the limited ability of minors to make decisions and call for a parent’s involvement. Durant today cited examples like laws against sex with minors and how parents have to sign permission slips for their kids to go on field trips as reasons why there should be some requirement that parents be involved in their children’s decision to get an abortion. 

Democratic Sen. Barbara Favola said today that the unfortunate reality is that not all parents are always looking out for the best interests of their children. Sometimes just the opposite is true. Favola said there are cases when a child is raped by her father or stepfather and there are cases where families have tried to evict daughters who become pregnant. 

“We as lawmakers have to step up and stand up and protect rights where we can and acknowledge that there needs to be individual decisions made in certain cases,” Favola said. “And that’s exactly what this constitutional amendment does.”

Watch: Lieutenant Governor Earle-Sears and Senate Majority Leader Surovell in Heated Exchange Over Mitch McConnell: “Who’s character have I impugned?”

 

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