{"id":17193,"date":"2026-01-27T03:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T03:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=17193"},"modified":"2026-01-27T03:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T03:28:10","slug":"4-constitutional-amendments-approved-by-virginia-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=17193","title":{"rendered":"4 Constitutional Amendments Approved by Virginia Legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Reading Time:<\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Virginia Democrats have complete control of the state government for the first time since 2021, now that Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin\u2019s term has ended and Democrat Abigail Spanberger has taken over as governor.\n<\/p>\n

This content is supported by your donations.
Give today.<\/h4>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In\u00a0last year\u2019s elections, Virginia Democrats won 64 out of 100 seats in the House of Delegates. Seats in the Virginia Senate were last up for election in\u00a02023, when Democrats won 21 of 40 seats.\n<\/p>\n

Democrats have moved to advance an unabashedly progressive agenda with lightning speed, although voters will have the final say on most of the legislation passed so far. Here are four proposed constitutional amendments approved by the Virginia Legislature that voters will weigh in on later this year.\n<\/p>\n

1. Establishing a right to abortion<\/h2>\n

House Joint Resolution 1 was approved by the Virginia House of Delegates in a\u00a064-34 vote\u00a0on Jan. 14 and a\u00a021-18 vote\u00a0on Jan. 16. The vote fell along party lines, with all support coming from Democrats and all opposition coming from Republicans.\n<\/p>\n

The\u00a0measure\u00a0would establish a \u201cfundamental right to reproductive freedom\u201d in the Bill of Rights of the Virginia Constitution, clarifying that \u201cevery individual has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including the ability to make and carry out decisions related to one\u2019s own prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, abortion care, miscarriage management, and fertility care.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAn individual\u2019s right to reproductive freedom shall not be, directly or indirectly, denied, burdened, or infringed upon unless justified by a compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means,\u201d the proposed amendment states.\n<\/p>\n

While the proposal permits the state to \u201cregulate the provision of abortion care in the third trimester,\u201d it requires the allowance of late-term abortions in cases where a physician has determined that they are necessary to \u201cprotect the life or physical or mental health\u201d of a pregnant woman or that \u201cthe fetus is not viable.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Now that Virginia legislators have approved the proposed constitutional amendment in two consecutive legislative sessions, it will go before voters this fall.\n<\/p>\n

2. Establishing a right to same-sex marriage<\/h2>\n

The Virginia House of Delegates passed House Joint Resolution 3 in a\u00a067-31 vote\u00a0on Jan. 14, while the Virginia Senate approved it in a\u00a026-13 vote\u00a0on Jan. 16. The measure achieved some degree of bipartisan support, with all House Democrats and three House Republicans voting in favor of it along with all Senate Democrats and five Senate Republicans.\n<\/p>\n

The\u00a0measure\u00a0removes the unenforced definition of marriage in the Virginia Bill of Rights, identifying it as \u201conly a union between one man and one woman,\u201d replacing it with language describing marriage as \u201cone of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness.\u201d It prohibits the state and its political subdivisions from denying \u201cthe 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.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The proposed constitutional amendment also requires the state and its subdivisions to \u201crecognize any lawful marriage between two adult persons and treat such marriages equally under the law, regardless of the sex, gender, or race of such persons.\u201d Same-sex marriages are already legal and recognized in Virginia after the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s\u00a0Obergefell v. Hodges<\/em>\u00a0decision struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage.\n<\/p>\n

The proposed constitutional amendment has been approved by Virginia legislators in\u00a0two consecutive legislative sessions, paving the way for it to go before voters on the ballot this fall.\n<\/p>\n

3. Authorizing a new congressional map<\/h2>\n

House Joint Resolution 4 passed the Virginia House of Delegates in a\u00a062-33 vote\u00a0on Jan. 14, while the Virginia Senate voted\u00a021-18\u00a0to advance the measure on Jan. 16. The vote fell along party lines, with all support for the measure coming from Democrats and all opposition coming from Republicans.\n<\/p>\n

If approved by voters, the\u00a0measure\u00a0would amend the Virginia Constitution to give the Virginia General Assembly the authority to modify the state\u2019s map of congressional districts if any other state engages in mid-decade redistricting for any purpose other than to comply with a court order. A state generally implements congressional maps immediately following a United States Census, but\u00a0several states\u00a0have adopted new congressional maps ahead of the 2026 election to provide an advantage to the dominant political party in their state.\n<\/p>\n

If passed, House Joint Resolution 4 is expected to amend the map of Virginia\u2019s congressional districts to increase the number of Democrats representing the state in the U.S. House of Representatives.\n<\/p>\n

Virginia\u2019s\u00a0congressional delegation\u00a0consists of six Democrats and five Republicans.\u00a0Louise Lucas, president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, has made it clear that she favors a map that would result in a delegation featuring 10 Democrats and one Republican.\n<\/p>\n

Since the proposed constitutional amendment has been approved by legislators in\u00a0two consecutive legislative sessions,\u00a0it can now head to voters for approval. Unlike the other proposed constitutional amendments passed by the Virginia Legislature, House Joint Resolution 4 is expected to go before voters in the spring so that new maps can be in place in time for the 2026 elections if voters approve it.\n<\/p>\n

4. Giving felons the right to vote upon release from prison<\/h2>\n

The Virginia House of Delegates approved House Joint Resolution 2 in a\u00a065-33 vote\u00a0on Jan. 14, while the Virginia Senate passed it in a\u00a021-18 vote\u00a0on Jan. 16. Nearly all support for the measure came from Democrats, with only one Republican in the House of Delegates breaking from his party to support it.\n<\/p>\n

The\u00a0proposed constitutional amendment\u00a0would clarify that felons \u201cshall be invested with all political rights, including the right to vote\u201d after \u201crelease from incarceration for that felony conviction.\u201d Under the current language in the Virginia Constitution, felons can only have their voting rights restored with the approval of the governor.\n<\/p>\n

Now that the measure has been passed in\u00a0two consecutive legislative sessions, it will head to voters for approval.\n<\/p>\n

What do you think of these ballot measures? Share your thoughts and prayers below.<\/h4>\n

This article was originally published at The Christian Post. Photo Credit: Martin Falbisoner \u2013 Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=28359099.<\/em>
\n \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: 4 minutes Virginia Democrats have complete control of the state government for the first time since 2021, now that Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin\u2019s term has ended and Democrat Abigail Spanberger has taken over as governor. This content is supported by your donations.Give today. \u00a0 In\u00a0last year\u2019s elections, Virginia Democrats won 64 out of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[850,2510,5281,5424,2517],"class_list":{"0":"post-17193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-prayer","8":"tag-amendments","9":"tag-approved","10":"tag-constitutional","11":"tag-legislature","12":"tag-virginia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}