The Catholic bishops of Virginia issued a forceful rebuke this week after the Democratic-controlled General Assembly advanced a proposed constitutional amendment that would enshrine broad abortion rights into the state constitution.
In a statement published Jan. 16, Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington and Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond described the legislation as an “extreme and deadly ‘fundamental right’ to abortion” that will now go before voters in a statewide referendum later this year.
“This amendment would go far beyond even what Roe v. Wade previously allowed,” the bishops said, noting that lawmakers fast-tracked the measure through both chambers in just the opening three days of the 60-day legislative session – a pace the bishops called “truly shocking to the conscience.”
Under the proposal approved by the state House and Senate, the Virginia Constitution would guarantee a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” including the ability to obtain an abortion at any stage of pregnancy without age restrictions.
Bishop Burbidge and Bishop Knestout warned that the amendment would “severely jeopardize Virginia’s parental consent law, health and safety standards for women, conscience protections for health care providers, and restrictions on taxpayer-funded abortions.”
“Most tragically of all,” they added, “the extreme abortion amendment provides no protections whatsoever for preborn children.”
“No one should ever be forced to pay for or participate in an abortion,” the statement said, urging that “health and safety should be enhanced, not diminished.”
The two Catholic bishops of Virginia also committed the Church to active engagement in educating voters about the amendment and pledged to “fight the extreme abortion amendment with maximum determination” in the coming months.
In the same statement, the bishops also weighed in on other proposed constitutional changes on the 2026 ballot. They opposed a measure to repeal Virginia’s 2006 provision defining marriage as between one man and one woman, and expressed support for an initiative to restore voting rights to individuals who have completed prison sentences.