Virginia voters are likely to consider a ballot measure later this year to enshrine abortion into their state constitution.
But a new lawsuit from a conservative legal group is claiming the process used to approve the measure was not carried out correctly.
Liberty Counsel announced on March 4 that they filed a complaint in Bedford County, Virginia, against state election officials who allegedly failed to “follow the state’s constitutional amendment process when approving a pro-abortion amendment for the 2026 ballot.”
The lawsuit was submitted on behalf of plaintiff Charla Bansley, the District 3 Supervisor for the Bedford County Board of Supervisors.
Bansley claimed that the Virginia House of Delegates “missed several key procedural steps mandated by the Virginia Constitution before the amendment can go before the voters,” Liberty Counsel said.
🚨We filed a lawsuit challenging Virginia’s pro-abortion ballot measure that would establish a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” in the Virginia Constitution if passed. Virginia state election officials failed to follow the state’s constitutional amendment process when… pic.twitter.com/ApWKIjGzCY
— Liberty Counsel (@libertycounsel) March 4, 2026
They were supposed to distribute the amendment to circuit court clerks across the state, as well as post the measure for public inspection three months out to the 2025 election, the group noted.
“The Virginia Constitution also requires that proposed amendments be approved in two successive legislative sessions with delegate election cycles in between before going before voters,” Liberty Counsel added.
“Because the required notice and posting did not occur in all the state’s circuit courts in the three months before the 2025 House of Delegates election, that cycle cannot satisfy the state constitutional notice obligation and waiting period.”
The approval of the amendment in the 2026 session is therefore “void” and “wholly ineffective,” according to the lawsuit.
The greenlighting of the abortion ballot amendment known as Virginia House Joint Resolution 1 — which would enshrine the murder of preborn babies as a “right to reproductive freedom” in the Virginia Constitution — comes after Democrats in Old Dominion made substantial electoral gains in 2025.
Beyond shoring up their majorities in the Virginia General Assembly, they flipped the positions of Governor and Attorney General.
Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin was unable to run for a second consecutive term — a unique arrangement established by the Virginia Constitution — and Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger soundly defeated now-former Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to become chief executive.
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, argued in a statement that “Virginia’s House Joint Resolution 1 cannot legally appear on the ballot.”
“This measure is invalid because the General Assembly advanced it to a second legislative vote without completing the constitutionally mandated notice and posting requirements that must occur after its first passage,” he contended.
Staver added that “the Constitution of Virginia requires strict, step by step compliance with the amendment process so that voters receive proper notice and can evaluate proposed changes to their governing charter before a consequential election.”
“These procedures exist to protect the people’s right to transparent, orderly constitutional change, and any misstep undermines the integrity of the amendment process and can interfere with the will of the voters,” he said.
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