Summary
- Catholics are urging Virginia voters to reject two constitutional amendments on abortion and marriage.
- The abortion amendment overrides parental-consent protections and create conflicts for pro-life doctors and pregnancy centers.
- Church leaders call the measures a threat to Virginia’s longstanding tradition of religious freedom.
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Virginia Catholics are being urged to defeat two constitutional amendments on this year’s ballot that church leaders say would expand abortion, redefine marriage, and undermine religious liberty.
At a forum Tuesday night at the Basilica of St. Mary, Catholic leaders warned that the measures would have far-reaching consequences across the commonwealth.
The statewide ballot includes questions on abortion, marriage, and voting rights, although Tuesday’s event focused on the first two. The abortion question would vastly expand abortion access, while the marriage question would change Virginia’s current definition of marriage.
In the weeks leading up to the start of early voting on Sept. 18, Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington launched a “Catholics Vote No” campaign opposing the first two amendments. Both are at odds with church teaching on abortion and marriage.
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At the event, titled “Saving the Soul of Virginia,” Amy McInerny, director of the diocese’s Respect Life Office, joined Rev. Tom Ferguson, pastor of Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Alexandria, and Mary Margaret Bush, a Catholic parishioner and religious-liberty attorney. (Click here to listen to a recording of the event.)
McInerny described the election as a defining moment for the commonwealth.
“This is a generational vote because of the two amendments that are in front of voters,” she said. “We do have a moment here where we can rise up and proclaim the gospel of life with our vote.”
She told attendees that Catholics should not allow their distaste for partisan politics to keep them from the public square.
“The world needs prophets. Virginia needs prophets,” McInerny said. “Virginia needs Christians to engage and to come out into the public square.”
Abortion Amendment
McInerny devoted much of her presentation to the wording of the abortion amendment. The ballot summary says it would protect decisions involving prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage management, and fertility care.
But McInerny urged voters to examine the full proposed amendment rather than relying exclusively on the ballot summary.
“The language that appears on the ballot, and this will shock you, is none of the above,” she said, arguing that the summary does not adequately convey what she believes would result from the amendment’s enactment.
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Among her concerns is the amendment’s application to “every individual.” McInerny argued that the language could be used to challenge Virginia’s parental-consent requirement for minors seeking abortions.
“It will push parents out of life-changing, irreversible decisions in the lives of their minor children,” she said.
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She also contended that the amendment’s recognition of abortion as a fundamental right, combined with restrictions on government interference, could make it difficult to enact health and safety regulations governing abortions.
“It will create the ability to have unregulated, unfettered abortion provided by unlicensed providers,” McInerny said.
She warned that pro-life medical professionals, pregnancy centers, and sidewalk counselors could also face legal conflicts because the amendment contains no explicit conscience or religious-liberty protection.
Marriage Proposal
The second ballot question would remove the state constitution’s definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman. That provision has been unenforceable since the U.S. Supreme Court recognized same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, but it remains part of Virginia’s constitution.
The proposed language would affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race and require the state to treat legally valid marriages equally.
McInerny argued that the amendment reaches beyond same-sex marriage because it separately includes the terms “sex” and “gender.”
“This is not just about same-sex marriage and marriage equality,” she said. “This is now an attempt to embed transgender ideology into our constitution.”
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She also raised concerns about the potential consequences for religious institutions, adoption agencies, business owners, and others who hold traditional beliefs about marriage.
“Both of these amendments are Pandora’s boxes on the religious-liberty front,” McInerny said.
Virginia’s Religious Liberty Legacy
The historical setting of the event reinforced many of the speakers’ arguments.
The Basilica of St. Mary, founded in 1795 as Virginia’s first Catholic parish and located about 10 miles north of George Washington’s Mount Vernon, provided an appropriate location for a discussion that repeatedly returned to the commonwealth’s role in establishing religious freedom.
Speakers invoked James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and George Mason, three Virginians whose writings and advocacy helped establish religious liberty as a foundational American principle.
Jefferson considered the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom one of his greatest achievements. Enacted in 1786 by the General Assembly, the statute later served as a model for the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
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Ferguson argued that churches have a responsibility to participate in public debates involving moral and civic questions.
“The church will never endorse or oppose any particular candidate for office or any political party,” he said. “But politics is bigger than partisanship. And so the church has an obligation to be involved.”
He said issues involving the protection of unborn life and the definition of marriage differ from policy questions on which Catholics may reasonably disagree.
“The first and the second constitutional amendments are not prudential judgments,” Ferguson said. “They deal with matters where truth is black and white.”
“Life is life from the moment of conception,” he added. “That’s a matter of moral principle. That’s not a prudential political judgment.”
Catholics Encouraged to Mobilize Others
Ferguson closed with a practical appeal.
He urged attendees to vote, then speak with family, relatives, friends, neighbors, and others who might otherwise overlook the amendments.
“Talk to people. Talk to friends,” he said. “There’s a lot of practical things that people could be doing. And if this is a close election, every vote counts.”
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McInerny similarly encouraged Catholics to discuss the proposals in book clubs, carpools, gyms, schools, and conversations with neighbors.
“We can’t go back to sleep after this happens, win or lose,” she said. “This is a moment for us to wake up and to stay alert.”
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
