Virginia
Status of Abortion:
Legal
Legal
Virginia Code § 18.2-71 mirrors the language of the Roe v. Wade decision. It makes abortion fully accessible through the first 24 weeks, and available even after that if the pregnancy has any possible negative impact on the mother’s health, including her mental health. Abortion is essentially completely legal up until birth.
Legislative calendar
Annual Regular Sessions begin in January and are limited to 60 legislative days during odd-numbered years or 30 legislative days during even-numbered years
Legislative Deadlines:
Deadlines will be posted as they become available
Legislative Branch
Speaker of the House:
President of the Senate:
Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (R)
President Pro Tem of the Senate:
Judicial Branch
Congressional Delegation
Abolition History:
In 2022, abolitionists lobbied several Republican state senators and state delegates to sponsor the Abolition of Abortion in Virginia Act. While several legislators — including conservative-favorite Senator Amanda Chase — were sent copies of the draft to read, no legislator sponsored any bill to abolish abortion.
During the 2023 General Assembly session, Governor Youngkin’s 15-week pain-capable bill and the “Hackworth Bill” (a “Life at Conception Act” that had a life-of-the-mother exception and gave mothers immunity to perform self-managed abortions) were sponsored in the General Assembly by pro-life Republicans. Republican State Senator Siobhan Dunnavant, a practicing OB-GYN, tried to amend the 15-week bill to allow for abortions up to 24 weeks if the baby had “severe fetal abnormalities.” All of these efforts failed to pass in the State Senate.
With 2023 being an election year for all 140 state legislators, thus far no incumbent legislator has expressed support for an abolition bill for the 2024 General Assembly session.