Broad health exception opens the door to abortion throughout pregnancy

 WASHINGTON — Passage of Virginia’s Question 1 will enshrine expansive abortion rights in the Commonwealth’s Constitution, including a broad health exception that undermines meaningful protections for unborn children in the final months of pregnancy.

“Tonight’s vote gives abortion sweeping constitutional protection at the expense of unborn children and their mothers,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “The amendment’s reference to third-trimester restrictions conceals a fundamental problem: its broad health exception leaves unborn children vulnerable even late in pregnancy.” 

National Right to Life and its Virginia affiliate, the Virginia Society for Human Life (VSHL), actively campaigned against the amendment, warning voters about its expansive language and the consequences of placing abortion rights in the state Constitution.

“The deliberate manipulation of the ballot language successfully confused many voters who were unaware of the far-reaching effects of the actual amendment language,” said Olivia Gans Turner, president of Virginia Society for Human Life. “The winners of this vote will be abortion businesses who will be able to operate unregulated and without any serious accountability in the Commonwealth. The losers of tonight’s vote are the women and unborn children who will now be without any legal protections going forward.”

The amendment would allow abortions during the third trimester of pregnancy “when a patient’s health is at risk.” A health exception is not limited to medical emergencies or conditions threatening a woman’s life. The breadth of health exceptions has long been central to the abortion debate. In its 1973 decision in Doe v. Bolton, the U.S. Supreme Court described medical judgment concerning abortion as encompassing “physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and age-related factors relevant to a patient’s well-being.”

“A reference to third-trimester regulation is no meaningful assurance when the exception is broad enough to swallow the rule,” said Tobias. “This amendment opens the door to abortion throughout pregnancy and sharply restricts the ability of elected lawmakers to protect unborn children and their mothers.”

National Right to Life and VSHL also warned that the amendment could provide grounds for challenges to Virginia’s parental consent law and conscience protections for medical professionals.

“Parents should be able to protect and guide their minor daughters, and medical professionals should be able to practice without being compelled to participate in abortions,” Tobias said. “We will continue defending these protections against efforts to dismantle them.” 

National Right to Life thanked VSHL and the volunteers and advocates who worked to inform voters and defeat the amendment.

“The Virginia Society for Human Life and pro-life Virginians worked tirelessly to explain what this amendment would mean for their Commonwealth,” said Tobias. “Their work has lasting value, and we will stand alongside them in the challenges ahead.” 

“This result is deeply disappointing, but our responsibility to unborn children and their mothers remains,” Tobias added. “We will continue educating, defending every protection we can, and supporting compassionate alternatives to abortion. An election result does not diminish the value of a human life.”

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide, and euthanasia.