Virginia voters will decide on the November ballot whether to safeguard access to abortion and same-sex marriage, as Democrats attempt to insulate the state from a conservative U.S. Supreme Court.
The first measure would create a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” in response to the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and kicked the abortion issue back to the states.
The second ballot question would erase the Virginia Constitution’s ban on same-sex marriage. Some LGBTQ advocates are afraid the Supreme Court will revisit a 2015 ruling that forced states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
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Clergy in Virginia have called on people of faith to vote down both measures.
“God is the author of life and marriage. We must protect and preserve these extraordinary gifts from our Creator. As Catholics, we have a sacred duty to form our consciences prayerfully and correctly, and to vote NO on Ballot Question 1 and Ballot Question 2,” Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington and Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond said in a letter to Catholic voters.
Dozens of pastors from a spectrum of Christian denominations also urged Virginians to reject both measures.
“If you support these amendments, know that we disagree with you for your good, and for the good of Virginia. The truth about life in the womb and the truth about marriage and gender does not originate within us, but it comes to us from God,” the pastors wrote in an open letter.
The ballot questions are a side plot to the midterm elections, which will decide whether Republicans retain control of Congress or Democrats take it back for the final two years of President Trump’s term.
Democrats need a net gain of three seats to take the House, and two or three seats are in play in Virginia.
Democrats are looking for a turnout boost from the hot-button ballot questions, said Mark J. Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.
“In addition to the intended policy goals, the two initiatives are intended to drive Democratic base voting in the midterms,” he said. “It is a long-standing electoral strategy to link popular initiatives to competitive election cycles to give the base an added incentive to vote. Presumably, Democratic nominees in competitive races will benefit.”
A third ballot question would restore convicted felons’ right to vote after incarceration. Under current law, a felon loses the right to vote in perpetuity unless the governor takes administrative action to restore it.
In their letter, Catholic bishops urged Virginians to support this measure.
“In your own assessment of this proposal,” they wrote, “we invite you to consider the church’s teaching on participation in the common good, rehabilitation, restoration, mercy and second chances — as well as times when you have witnessed God’s redemptive work in your own life and the lives around you.”
All told, 39 states will put ballot questions directly to voters, according to the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
Several states will vote on new election rules or voter ID requirements. California will decide whether to impose an annual 1.5% wealth tax on individuals with more than $1 billion in assets.
The marquee measures in Virginia do not seek immediate change. Same-sex marriage and abortion are legal in the state, though there are limits on abortions in the third trimester.
The two ballot questions are designed to prevent limits on those rights down the road, supporters say.
A “yes” vote on the first measure, Question 1, would still allow Virginia to regulate abortions in the third trimester, but the state could not ban abortions if a fetus is not viable or a doctor thinks an abortion is needed to protect the life, mental health or physical health of the mother.
It also bars the state from prosecuting or penalizing a woman or others for receiving or aiding in a miscarriage, stillbirth or abortion.
The text of the ballot question says a yes vote would “protect the freedom to make personal decisions about prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage management, and fertility care.”
“The bottom line is that at no point is a politician more qualified than a patient and their doctor to make personal decisions about pregnancy. This amendment keeps politicians out of the doctor’s office, so the people actually involved can decide what’s best,” said Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia.
SBA Pro-Life America says the ballot question gives too much power to the person performing the abortion, while weakening protections for unborn children.
“This amendment will allow abortion up to birth for any reason by shifting all decision-making around unborn protections to the profiting abortionist,” SBA communications strategist Tom Olohan said. “The initiative also contains language that may prevent parents from protecting their children and neuter conscience protections for doctors and hospitals.”
Polling on how voters feel about the ballot questions is scant. A January poll by the Wason Center at Christopher Newport University found that 66% of voters “support/strongly support amending the constitution to guarantee reproductive rights.”
Question 2 would remove a part of the Virginia Constitution that defines marriage as only between one man and one woman.
Virginians defined marriage as “the union of one man and one woman” in a 2006 vote.
However, in 2015, the Supreme Court held in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex marriage is protected by the 14th Amendment, thereby making the state ban unenforceable.
Virginians for Marriage Equality, a group pushing to approve Question 2, is warning voters that federal protections for same-sex marriage could be erased one day, leaving the 2006 Marshall-Newman Amendment in place and enforceable.
“With one Supreme Court decision, the right of Virginians to marry who they love could vanish overnight, leaving the 2006 ban in place and valid in our state constitution. To prevent that possibility from becoming our reality, we must act now,” the group says on its website.
Narissa Rahaman, campaign manager for Equality Virginia, said it is “past time our commonwealth’s constitution protected the freedom to marry for all Virginians.”
“Government shouldn’t be involved in such a deeply personal decision, and the law should treat all families the same,” she said.
Stephen Farnsworth, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Mary Washington, said Democrats have the momentum on both ballot measures.
“The big gains in Democratic voting in Virginia last year, coupled with the president’s unpopularity in Virginia, suggest opponents of all the constitutional amendments have their work cut out for them,” he said.
Still, Ms. Rahaman said Equality Virginia is “not taking anything for granted.”
“Overwhelmingly, Virginians believe in freedom — regardless of party, faith, or background — and we’re confident they’ll vote yes,” she said.
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