When Virginia’s political version of that now-infamous Hyrox endurance race begins on the 18th, the question will not be whether we will push ourselves to the point of losing control over our bodily functions. It will be whether voters are turning out because of the congressional races or the constitutional amendments.
There is an interesting subtext to the abortion amendment that goes beyond the misleading, if not downright fraudulent, language that will be on the ballot. It is the part of the state constitution that the amendment seeks to change: Article I, Section 11.
Background first. Unlike the U.S. Constitution, the Virginia Constitution does not have its Bill of Rights attached as 10 amendments. Instead, those provisions appear at the beginning as Article I.
So, the section that would be amended if the measure passes (and survives court proceedings. Josh Hetzler of the Founding Freedoms Law Center is already working on that) is Article I, Section 11, the due process section:
“That no person shall be deprived of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law;”
The amendment takes, for the first time since the names Roe and Wade became newsworthy, a firm stand on when life begins. After the baby is outside the mother, not before, due process protections apply.
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But hold on. The Left has told us over the years that it wanted “commonsense” abortion laws that would protect a viable baby, one that can survive outside the womb. Are Virginia voters thinking that standard still applies?
Polls, including a recent one by Christopher Newport University, claim that 66% of participants support or strongly support amending the constitution to guarantee reproductive rights. But that may be as misleading as the language that will appear on the ballot.
When shown what opponents say are the ramifications of the amendment, abortion up to the moment of birth, a mental health standard for the mother, the need for only a single doctor’s approval (along with the threat of sanctions if the procedure is denied), no parental permission for minors, and transgender protections without parental involvement, the response of Virginia voters more than flips.
This is why the State Board of Elections’ choice of ballot language is so disturbing. Government should not “take sides” in this way.
But why amend the due process guarantee? Because it could be argued that a viable pregnancy, one that could survive if born at that moment, would be protected against the loss of life under Section 11.
The question is whether this is something the pro-life community should pursue.
I asked Victoria Cobb of The Family Foundation, and she said, “that is an interesting point. At some point the hypocrisy of the general political sentiment right now around abortion will be exposed and the idea that the people who claim to fight for the most marginalized and make intersectionality the biggest deal in the world ignore the most vulnerable population in our society and that is the unborn at some point all of that will sort of work itself through.”
She’s on the road talking to voters and church leaders, all in an effort to increase voter turnout.
“When you turn it into 45 days for voting and you’ve got primaries, you’ve got generals, you’ve [had the] redistricting. There’s just not that many days we haven’t had elections in Virginia, and so people are exhausted, and we don’t want the fatigue to take over the desire to get our constitution right and I think that message is paramount.”
According to figures from the Virginia Public Access Project, $2.8 million has been contributed to campaigns supporting the amendment, compared with less than $500,000 for the “Vote No” effort.
But, as the slogan used in recovery programs says, “We’ve been down here before, we know how to get out.”
We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.
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