The composition of the 2026 Virginia General Assembly–the Senate and the House of Delegates–was a textbook example of the adage “elections have consequences.” Not since 2020 have pro-abortion forces been able to do so much damage to the ability of concerned Virginians to protect innocent human life.
Starting on January 14, day one of the session, the pro-abortion Democrats in control of both chambers took the steps to pass the proposed constitutional amendment, HJ1, allowing unlimited abortion in Virginia.
It passed handily in the House, more narrowly in the Senate, before the first full week of the session was over.
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The General Assembly then passed a bill that designated the language the voters will read this November. The language is so deliberately deceptive that it will make educating voters a monumental challenge.
When asked by pro-life members in the General Assembly if those in support of the amendment care that they are misleading the public, pro-abortion members openly ridiculed those concerns.
HJ1 has now been approved twice, once in 2025 and again this past January, a requirement to amend the Virginia Constitution. It will now be the ballot this fall.
So here we are facing the biggest threat to saving unborn children that Virginia has ever known. It is up to us to do all we can to make sure that our friends, relatives, churches, and co-workers understand just how extreme the amendment really is.
This is not abut ensuring that women get better pre-natal care or post-partum support. This amendment is simply intended to grant abortion promoters unlimited ability to operate in the Commonwealth without any regulations through all nine months of pregnancy.
They weren’t done though.
The pro-abortion majority also passed a bill, SB 137, that makes prayer or peaceful counseling at an abortion facility a crime!
The new bill, if signed into law, will severely restrict the activity that individuals may engage in outside these dreadful places. Those who violate the new law will be liable to a large fine and criminal charges.
It is a clear imposition on freedom of speech, assembly and creates a dangerously vague situation for those who are offering help to mothers outside.
The General Assembly passed another bill, SB794, that prevents abortionists who break the pro-life laws of other states from being extradited for the crime. This means that if someone sends chemical abortion pills across state lines, they cannot be held accountable for any harm that those drugs cause to a woman in another state!
Now the bills await Gov. Spanberger’s expected signature.
Fate of Pro-life bills
Tragically, the pro-abortion agenda also included tossing every pro-life bill carried this year aside without a vote in either chamber. Again and again in House and Senate Committees, pro-life bills were either “laid on the table” or “passed by indefinitely.” Both actions mean the bill was defeated–killed.
The following pro-life bills were all defeated:
*The Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, (Senate and House versions);
*A bill to create a state website sharing information about programs in Virginia to help pregnant women;
* A bill to require that students see an ultrasound or accurate animation of an unborn child in Virginia’s family life classes;
*A bill to inform women about Virginia’s safe haven law before an abortion.
There were other good bills that were defeated too. It was obvious that the pro-abortion Democrat majority wasn’t even interested in listening to the patrons and had decided before the session that any bill carried by a pro-life member would be tossed aside.
Remember, elections have consequences.
One bright light
There was one very positive action this year. The bill that would legalize doctor-assisted suicide was defeated in the Senate and was not brought up in the House.
Resistance to assisted suicide is a bipartisan issue and two Democrats voted in committee with Republicans to stop the bill this year. Disability groups and Virginia doctors and medical organizations recognize the danger that a change in our law would produce. Under the No Suicide VA organization, they did a good job educating legislators about the risks involved in the bill.
This bill will be back, however. There are organizations determined to undermine Virginia’s protective law.
Where we stand
All in all, we went into this session fearing the worst and we weren’t wrong. There can be little doubt that there will be more like this going forward.
If HJ1, the Unlimited Abortion Amendment, passes in the fall, we will surely see attempts to force Pregnancy Resource Center to comply or else to close as has happened in other states. One such bill was introduced this year but was withdrawn by the sponsor. They are likely waiting for the outcome of the amendment ballot vote in the fall.
Despite all the hard news, we must remember that we still can stop the train wreck by mobilizing now to educate the public about the extreme danger that the amendment present to women and their babies. This is not about “reproductive freedom,” it is about giving the abortion business a stronghold to ply their deadly trade without restriction.
Vote NO on HJ1.
LifeNews Note: Olivia Gans is the director of the Virginia Society for Human Life.
