RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrats who control both chambers of the Virginia Legislature are hoping to keep promises they made on the campaign trail, including becoming the first Southern state to expand constitutional protections for abortion access.
The House Privileges and Elections Committee advanced three proposed constitutional amendments on Wednesday, including a measure to protect reproductive rights. Its members also discussed measures to repeal a now-repealed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in one state and ways to overhaul Virginia’s process for restoring voting rights to people serving sentences for felonies.
“This meeting was an important next step given the moment in history we find ourselves in,” Democratic Rep. Cia Price, the committee chairwoman, said during a news conference. “We face urgent threats to our freedoms that could impact voters in every district we serve.”
The at-times loud meeting will pave the way for the House and Senate to adopt the resolutions early next year after lawmakers introduced the measures last January. Democrats previously said the move was common practice because changes are typically introduced in odd-numbered years. But Republican Minority Leader Todd Gilbert said Wednesday the committee should not have taken up the changes until next year’s legislative session. He said the resolutions, particularly the abortion amendment, require further consideration.
“No one still serving can remember it ever being done this way,” Gilbert said after the meeting. “Certainly not for something so important. This is as big and serious a problem as it gets.”
The Democrats’ legislative lineup comes after Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin rolled back a lawsuit aimed at restoring people’s civil rights after serving felony prison sentences, to the dismay of voting rights advocates. Virginia is the only state that permanently bars people convicted of a felony from voting unless a governor restores their rights.
“This amendment creates a process limited by transparent rules and criteria that apply to everyone – it is not left to the discretion of any one person,” Del said. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, the sponsor of the voting rights resolution, which passed along party lines, said at the news conference.
Although Democrats have clashed with the governor over their legislative agenda, constitutional changes proposed by lawmakers do not require his signature, allowing the Democratic-led House and Senate to bypass Youngkin’s blessing.
Instead, the General Assembly must pass the proposed changes twice in at least two years, with a general election between each Statehouse session. The public can then vote on the issues in a referendum. The cumbersome process will likely depend on the success of all three amendments and on Democrats’ ability to maintain their advantage in the House and Senate, where they hold razor-thin majorities.
It’s not the first time lawmakers have tried to champion the three amendments. Republicans in a House subcommittee rejected a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights in 2022, a year after the measure passed in a Democratic-led House. The same subcommittee also proposed legislation supporting a constitutional amendment to repeal a 2006 amendment banning marriage equality.
On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers voted 16-5 in favor of legislation protecting same-sex marriage, with four Republicans supporting the resolution.
“To say the least, voters passed this (amendment) in 2006 and 100,000 voters have become eligible to vote every year since then,” Del said. Mark Sickles, who sponsored the amendment as one of the first openly gay men in office in the General Assembly. “A lot of people have changed their minds about it over the years.”
A constitutional amendment to protect abortion was already passed by the Senate in 2023, but failed in a Republican-led House of Representatives. The amendment passed on a bipartisan basis on Wednesday.
If successful, the resolution proposed by House Majority Leader Charniele Herring would be part of a growing trend to ask voters ballot questions related to reproductive rights. Since 2022, voters across the U.S. have been presented with 18 questions and have sided with abortion rights supporters 14 times.
Voters approved constitutional amendments guaranteeing the right to abortion until fetal viability in nine states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Ohio and Vermont. In Nevada, voters also passed an abortion rights measure in 2024, but it must be passed again in 2026 to be included in the state constitution.
As lawmakers debated the measure, about 18 members spoke. At 38 weeks pregnant, Mercedes Perkins described the importance of women making decisions about their own bodies. Rhea Simon, another Virginia resident, described anecdotally how reproductive health care has shaped her life.
Then suddenly more than 50 people lined up to speak out against the abortion amendment.
“Let’s be compassionate and take care of mothers and all unborn children,” said resident Sheila Furey.
The audience gave a collective “Amen,” followed by applause.
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Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
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Olivia Diaz is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative.
