(The Center Square) – Three amendments are one step closer in a long journey to being enshrined in the Virginia Constitution after passing the Senate on Tuesday.
The Senate paved the way to enshrine abortion, marriage equality, and the restoration of voting rights for formerly incarcerated felons.
The chamber passed the resolutions on abortion and voting rights along party lines, while the marriage equality resolution received some bipartisan support 24-15. Democrats hold a 21-19 majority in the Senate for the four-year terms through December 2027.
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin can’t veto the constitutional amendments. Next in the process, they must be approved twice in at least two years in between a legislative election. If approved again, the proposed amendments will be sent to the voters in 2026.
All 100 House of Delegates seats, two-year terms, are up for election this year. Democrats’ 51-49 advantage will be tested by the potential ballot measures.
The abortion amendment would ensure “every individual has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including the ability to make and carry out decisions relating to one’s own prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, abortion care, miscarriage management, and fertility care.”
Republicans proposed different amendments to the proposal, including a clause for parental consent of minors and an amendment guaranteeing a baby’s rights if born alive. They failed.
The three resolutions passed through the Democratic majority House of Delegates last week.
The second resolution pertains to restoring the voting rights of convicted felons upon release from incarceration.
“The amendment provides that a person who has been convicted of a felony shall not be entitled to vote during any period of incarceration for such felony conviction, but upon release from incarceration for that felony conviction and without further action required of him, such person shall be invested with all political rights, including the right to vote,” according to the amendment’s text.
This would change from a convicted felons must have their rights restored by the governor or “other appropriate authority.”
The last resolution would define marriage as a union between “two adult persons” while repealing same-sex marriage prohibition and affirming the right to marry.
“Repeals the constitutional provision defining marriage as only a union between one man and one woman as well as the related provisions that are no longer valid as a result of the United States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges…The amendment prohibits the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions from denying the issuance of a marriage license to two adult persons seeking a lawful marriage on the basis of the sex, gender, or race of such persons,” according to the text of the amendment.
The Senate GOP took aim at Democrats and former Gov. Ralph Northam for comments he made regarding infanticide.
“In 2019, we were told that former Governor Ralph Northam had a ‘gaffe’ and that he ‘misspoke’ when saying ‘The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother,’” the VA Senate GOP wrote in a post on X.
“Today, EVERY SINGLE Democrat in the Virginia Senate voted to reject an amendment that would guarantee a baby’s rights to life if born ALIVE…It wasn’t a gaffe, it was the groundwork to where we are today,” the post concluded.
Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Mount Vernon, the Senate majority leader, applauded the votes.
“Senate Democrats ran on codifying Roe v. Wade, affirming marriage equality and excising Jim Crow from the Constitution of Virginia and today we delivered. This starts the process of giving Virginia voters a chance to affirm cherished right,” the senator said in a statement.