Are You Surprised?
It shouldn’t be any surprise that the new Democrat majority’s top legislative priority for the 2024 session is to enshrine unrestricted abortion into our state constitution.
After all, Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry spent $70 million on pro-abortion candidates this election cycle to protect their business. Not only that, but they also brought a version of this bill during this past year’s session, and even when the bill failed in committee on a party line vote, pro-abortion liberals attempted a parliamentary maneuver to force a vote on the House floor.
HJ1 and SJ1 would create a new section in the Virginia Bill of Rights that states in part:
“That every individual has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom. This right to make and effectuate one's own decisions about all matters related to one's pregnancy shall not be denied, burdened, or infringed upon, unless justified by a compelling state interest and achieved by the least restrictive means that do not infringe an individual's autonomous decision-making.”
This amendment, if approved, would treat the taking of an unborn child’s life as fundamental as the freedom of conscience and speech, which in turn would make the practice of abortion ever more accessible and without any restraints. As worded, this amendment would also void Virginia’s current law requiring a parent to consent to a minor child’s abortion, and the current requirement that two physicians sign off before a woman gets a third-trimester abortion.
Note also that the language uses the phrase “one’s pregnancy,” which can span from the moment of conception until the moment of birth, again without any restrictions. Essentially, this amendment doesn’t treat the baby in the mother’s womb as an actual life, making it expendable at any stage of development.
In fact, the chief patron of SJ1, Senator Jennifer Boysko (D-Fairfax), boldly admitted this on the floor of the Senate earlier this year when speaking to the issue, saying “I believe life begins at birth.” Click on the image below to hear for yourself.
The consequences of this kind of amendment are too numerous to list here, but no doubt it further diminishes the value of women, which is already taking place through transgender ideology, and it will definitely lead to even more unsafe practices, and even more pressure from men who are unwilling to take ownership of their actions.
However, not all is lost and there is a light through the cracks that can allow us to stop this amendment. But it takes you to be a voice for the voiceless. In Virginia, in order for the state constitution to be amended there are several stages: the language must be passed by both chambers of the legislature; then there must be an election of the House of Delegates; then both chambers of the legislature must pass the exact same language again; and then it goes to the ballot in the next election for the citizens to decide.
Our Policy team will fight hard in the General Assembly in 2024 to change the hearts and minds of legislators on this issue and attempt to stop this amendment knowing that it will be an uphill battle. If it does pass, then we will work hard at the next stage to stop it, and we won’t give up because life is too precious to hand over to the abortion industry.
As we prepare for the 2024 legislative session, please continue to pray that legislators will make wise decisions that protect all life and strengthen families.
