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Senate committee reports constitutional amendment to enshrine reproductive freedom
Summary
After hours of testimony for and against, the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee voted to report SJ247, a proposed amendment that would enshrine a broad right to reproductive freedom — including abortion, contraception and fertility care — into the Virginia Constitution, while allowing limited state regulation in the third trimester.
The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee voted to report SJ247, a proposed constitutional amendment that would recognize a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” in the Virginia Constitution, protecting decisions related to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, abortion care, miscarriage management and fertility care.
Senator Ghazala Hashmi (patron; transcript identifies as Senator Boiskell in the hearing) introduced the amendment and read its text to the committee, including a strict judicial standard: the Commonwealth may not infringe those rights “unless justified by a compelling state interest…
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