The amendment that could permanently protect killing babies in Virginia

Kacia Kriener Putman credits abortion access with her ability to grow her family.

Abortion is legal in Virginia through the 26th week of pregnancy. After that, three doctors must certify that the procedure is needed to save the life of the mother in order for the abortion to be granted.

A proposed amendment on Virginia voters’ ballots this fall could cement abortion access and other reproductive rights into the state’s constitution. It’s among three pending measures toenshrine same-sex marriage protectionsandrestore voting rightsto former felons who’ve completed their prison sentences.

Proposed Constitutional Amendment 1

Question: Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to (i) protect the freedom to make personal decisions about prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage management, and fertility care; (ii) protect doctors, nurses, and patients from being punished for these decisions; and (iii) allow for restrictions on access to abortion during the third trimester of pregnancy except when the patient’s health is at risk or the pregnancy cannot survive?

What the amendment would do

If approved, the amendment would remove the three-physician threshold for late-term abortions.

Every Republican state lawmaker voted against advancing it to ballots, largely due to their stance on abortion.

They argued it could overrideexisting state lawthat requires parental or guardian consent for minors to have surgeries including abortion. They also aired concerns that the amendment could enable infanticide.

Varying views on third-trimester abortion

Christian advocacy group Family Foundation has apending lawsuitthat seeks to strike down the amendment if the majority of Virginians approve it.

The lawsuitarguesthat the ballot language is misleading and that legislative procedural steps for the amendment were not properly followed. A related casewas dismissedover the summer but will befurther deliberatedby the Court of Appeals of Virginia.

Proponents suggest that removing the three-physician standard for late-term abortions would be helpful in emergencies and for rural patients who travel further for care.

But opponents, including VCU Health OBGYN Dr. Edward Springel, counter it would make it too easy to get an abortion. Springel also said thatsurvival ratesincrease for fetuses born after 25 weeks of pregnancy and onward.

With no uniform definition of fetal viability, doctors handle pregnancies on a case-by-case basis with patients as they move through their second trimester.

As a fetus cannot survive outside the mother’s body at that point of gestation, she likened it to “ending the condition of pregnancy without the intention of producing a live birth.”

Third-trimester abortions, which make up about 1% of abortionsnationwide, are usually due to a late-developing, critical condition of the fetus or the pregnant person, a2022 National Institutes of Health studyindicated.

When third-trimester abortions do occur, anAmerican Medical Association studyfound they’re most often performed closer to the start of the third trimester than well into it.

Though fetal anomalies are usually detected within the second trimester, some severe or lethal defects may not be apparent until the third trimester,according to another NIH study.

Early voting runs through Oct. 31. Election Day is Nov. 3.

Albemarle County is a county in Central Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, an independent city.

Alexandria is an independent city in Northern Virginia.

Newport News is an independent city in Hampton Roads.

Richmond is an independent city in the Richmond region.