Virginia House passes measures to put voting‑rights and reproductive‑freedom amendments on the ballot

The Virginia House of Delegates on Feb. 2 passed measures to place two proposed constitutional amendments before voters: one to restore the right to vote automatically on release from incarceration, and another to establish a fundamental right of reproductive freedom that covers prenatal care, contraception, abortion, miscarriage management and fertility treatment.

Delegate Price moved passage of Senate Bill 6 (the cognate to House Bill 963), a referendum measure described in the chamber as restoring voting rights upon release from incarceration. The clerk recorded the vote with 64 ayes and 34 noes, and the bill passed.

Later in the morning the House considered Senate Bill 449, a cognate to House Bill 781, which the chamber’s sponsor described as ballot language protecting a broad set of personal health decisions. Delegate Herring explained the measure would protect “personal decisions about prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage management, and fertility,” and moved its passage. Delegate Zit Zaire pressed for additional clarity and said voters deserved a fuller study of the ballot language, raising concerns about parental‑notification implications and what the amendment’s immunity or reporting provisions would mean in practice. After roll call, the House recorded the motion as passed.

Both measures were introduced to the chamber as part of the printed calendar and were acted on under a recorded vote. Floor debate included questioning of language and procedure; some members pressed for more committee review or clearer ballot phrasing before sending the measures to voters.

The House’s action sends the resolutions to the next steps required under Virginia law for proposed constitutional amendments (transmittal to the Senate where required and, if approved, placement on the ballot for voter consideration). The legislature’s calendar indicated other related privileges-and-elections items would continue in committee and subcommittee hearings in coming days.