Virginia March For Life tees up constitutional amendment ahead of this year's elections
A crowd gathers outside of the state capitol for Virginia's March For Life on April 2, 2025. (Photo By Charlotte Rene Woods / Virginia Mercury)
About 2,000 people gathered outside of the Capitol on Wednesday for the 7th annual Virginia March For Life, one of the largest anti-abortion demonstrations in the state. Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears was a keynote speaker, where she energized the crowd near the beginning of the event before they paced around the state Capitol in downtown Richmond carrying signs, banners and bullhorns.
'We stand for life and how can it ever be wrong to stand for life?' Earle-Sears asked.
Abortion opponents and abortion rights groups have painted each other as 'extreme' or 'radical,' framing both Earle-Sears and Family Foundation president Victoria Cobb criticized.
'Are we really 'radical' for showing up here today to march on behalf of voiceless Virginians?' Cobb posited.
Cobb also referenced an ongoing process to enshrine abortion protections into Virginia's constitution. The measure, which passed the legislature this year (and is not subject to gubernatorial approval) must pass again next year before appearing on statewide ballots for voters to approve or reject.
She added that the constitutional amendment was 'barbaric' and reiterated that Republicans had offered an amendment to the amendment that outlines procedures for instances when an infant is born as the result of a 'botched abortion.'
Democrats, who control both the House and Senate chambers, rejected the proposal, since infanticide is already prohibited by state code and federal law. In Virginia state code, 'partial birth infanticide' means 'any deliberate act that is intended to kill a human infant who has been born alive but has not been completely extracted or expelled from its mother.' It also 'shall not under any circumstances be construed to include' abortion procedures.
Republicans had also offered an amendment to include parental consent requirements for minors, which Democrats also rejected since it is also already law. While Democrats have stressed that current law nor the amendment would allow abortion up to the 'moment of birth,' many Republicans and President Donald Trump have made such claims. As Democrats have coalesced around the amendment, Republicans have embraced a variety of limits or near-total bans in recent years.
After some religious leaders led the crowd in prayer and gave speeches at Wednesday's march, Northern Virginia resident Shawnte Mallory shared her journey as a political advocate and mother of six.
When she became pregnant with her third child, her then-boyfriend abandoned her and she became homeless. She was able to stay at a shelter, kept that pregnancy and has gone on to have other children.
'There is hope and there are resources,' she said.
Likewise, Del. Delores Oates, R-Warren, shared her own experience with an unexpected pregnancy. Oates shared the same personal anecdote during this year's legislative session — each time relaying how proud she is of her now-adult son and how grateful she was for the support system of her mother and grandmother.
'I don't want any woman who's within hearing this message to miss out on incredible blessings that a child is in your life,' Oates said.
While Mallory and Oates were able to lean on others around them and get support to keep their pregnancies, abortion rights advocates say not all pregnant people experience those opportunities. Those who favor abortion also point out that the procedure can be sought for various reasons or be medically necessary. Voters nationwide have backed abortion rights in Republican- and Democrat-leaning states, while a 2024 Pew Research poll found 63% of Americans support abortion in all or most cases.
'While a vocal minority rallies today at the Virginia March For Life, most Virginians support the right to make personal health care decisions without political interference,' Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia director Jamie Lockhart told The Mercury Wednesday.
Although abortion isn't a wholly partisan issue, Virginia's own constitutional amendment has so far advanced on party lines, setting the matter up as a key issue in this year's elections for Virginia's House of Delegates.
'Our chance to stop the truly radical, unsafe, unlimited abortion amendment is to install a pro-life majority in the Virginia House of Delegates this year,' Cobb said.
With all 100 seats in the chamber up for election this year, Virginia's governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general seats will also be on the ballot. Earle-Sears will face former delegate Dave LaRock and former senator Amanda Chase in a Republican primary for the governorship this summer before one of them goes against Democrat Abigail Spanberger in the fall. Reproductive health is expected to feature prominently in some of this year's elections.
While not formally speakers at the Virginia March For Life, both LaRock and Chase were there and mingled with attendees. When they were members of the state legislature, both previously carried anti-abortion bills.
Democratic Party of Virginia spokesperson Maggie Amjad said Earle-Sears' track record on reproductive health had earned her the March For Life keynote speech slot by 'supporting a dangerous agenda that would strip Virginia women of their right to make decisions about their own bodies.'
DPVA has routinely lambasted Earle-Sears in recent months since she cast a tie-breaking vote in an attempt to shut down a right-to-contraception bill earlier this year. Democrats in the Senate had politically postured to force her vote on the matter before utilizing chamber rules to redo their vote and advance the bill.
Youngkin signs bill to protect reproductive and sexual health data, amends right to contraception
The bill's patrons say it's especially important, amid the potential overturning of U.S. Supreme Court cases that protect contraception access and the shifting national landscape around reproductive health at large. Following the overturn of cases that had protected abortion access, most notably the 2022 strike down of Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas expressed interest in revisiting contraception cases. The bill, by Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield and Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, would offer state-level protection should federal ones fall.
As states around the nation have explored restrictions on contraception, abortion and in vitro fertilization, Virginia's pending constitutional amendment would address all three issues if voters are able to approve it next year.
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