A second lawsuit has been filed against a proposed constitutional amendment that would protect reproductive rights in Virginia, this time targeting the wording that voters will encounter on their ballots in November. The suit, filed in Tazewell County Circuit Court, names Bluefield town council member Meagan Kade and Chesterfield County child psychiatrist Sheila Furey as plaintiffs, represented by the Founding Freedoms Law Center, the legal arm of the conservative advocacy group Family Foundation.
The plaintiffs argue that the ballot language is engineered to obscure what the amendment actually does. They contend the amendment would eliminate parental consent requirements for minors seeking abortions or surgical birth control procedures and remove the current three-physician approval threshold for later-term abortions. These arguments echo concerns raised during the amendment's legislative approval process and in previous public comments to lawmakers.
The proposed amendment would protect the freedom to make personal decisions about prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage management, and fertility care. It would also protect medical professionals and patients from punishment for these decisions and allow restrictions on third-trimester abortions except when the patient's health is at risk or the pregnancy cannot survive.
Democrats, who advanced the amendment to the ballot, maintain it would not override existing state law requiring parental or guardian consent for minors' surgeries. They argue the amendment would more firmly protect access to abortion and contraception while removing the three-physician requirement that can delay care for patients in rural areas facing life-threatening emergencies.
Kade announced the lawsuit as a planned "no" vote on the amendment. "I could not stand by and allow my vote and the votes of many other Virginians to be effectively canceled out because the General Assembly has deliberately chosen to materially misrepresent the effects of the so-called reproductive freedom amendment," she said.
This is the second local government official to challenge the amendment. In March, Bedford County Supervisor Charla Bansley filed a separate lawsuit, represented by Liberty Counsel, alleging that Virginia House of Delegates Clerk Paul Nardo failed to formally send the amendment's language to circuit court clerks across the state. However, a bill signed by Governor Abigail Spanberger in February retroactively removed that requirement from state code.
Josh Hetzler, legal counsel for the new case, said he believes the Liberty Counsel argument is valid and noted that his case focuses primarily on what he described as the "deceptive language" of the ballot. He said his clients hope the court could order a rewrite before early voting begins September 18. Hetzler and Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb both emphasized they are not attempting to block the amendment from reaching voters, but believe the current wording is misleading.
The decision to file in Tazewell County was strategic, Hetzler suggested. With Kade as plaintiff in the area and the Town of Bluefield located in the county, the venue made the case possible. Tazewell County has already been the source of legal challenges to a separate redistricting amendment, cases that have been elevated to the Supreme Court of Virginia. "It's no secret that the Tazewell Circuit Court has become something of a subject matter expert on ballot measures," Hetzler said.
If upheld, the decision could affect all four constitutional amendments on Virginia's ballot this year, which also include referendums on voting rights restoration for people with felony convictions, same-sex marriage protections, and a mid-decade redistricting effort currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court of Virginia.
