The Virginia state senate voted on Friday to let voters decide whether to amend the state’s constitution to protect abortion rights, in a move that will make Virginia at least the third state in 2026 to vote on the controversial topic.
The state legislature first approved the proposed amendment in early 2025, but Virginia law dictates that suggested constitutional amendments must pass in two consecutive state legislatures. The state house of delegates approved the 2026 version of the amendment earlier this week.
Democrats control both chambers of the legislature. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, flipped the governor’s mansion in November, in part due to her stalwart support for abortion rights.
After the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, unleashing a wave of state-level abortion bans, Virginia has become a critical source of abortion access – especially for people fleeing southern bans. Before Roe’s fall, Virginia-based providers performed fewer than 2,500 abortion per month, according to data from #WeCount, a research project that tracks abortion provision. By June 2025, providers in Virginia were performing closer to 3,500 abortions each month.
If it passes in November, Virginia’s constitution will recognize that “every individual has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including the ability to make and carry out decisions relating to one’s own prenatal care”. However, the state may still regulate access to the procedure in the third trimester of pregnancy.
Roe’s demise also led abortion rights supporters to champion ballot measures to protect access to the procedure. Missouri and Nevada are already set to vote on abortion-related measures this year, while activists are hoping to secure further measures in Idaho, Montana, Nebraska and Oregon. Idaho and Oregon’s proposed measures would – like Virginia’s – protect abortion access, while Nebraska and Montana’s measures would eliminate it.
Missouri’s measure will probably be among the most heated contests of the 2026 election. In 2024, voters in the state passed a measure that protected abortion rights and rescinded the state’s near-total abortion ban. However, this year, abortion opponents are asking voters to rescind that measure’s results and restore the state’s ban.
