A Michigan court already used one liberal ballot amendment to strike down three abortion safety laws.
Now Virginia voters are about to decide on a nearly identical amendment in November.
One lawyer says the wording could wipe out protections most Virginians assume are permanent.
Josh Hetzler Says One Phrase in Amendment 1 Strips Away Virginia's Age Limits
Virginia's Amendment 1 asks voters a soft, vague question about "reproductive freedom."
The actual text creates a fundamental right for every "individual" to make decisions about abortion, birth control, and fertility care.
Right now, Virginia lets abortion happen through the second trimester and draws a hard line around 27 weeks, allowing exceptions only when the mother's life is genuinely in danger.
Amendment 1 would erase that line entirely and let abortion continue through the third trimester up to birth, with an exception broad enough to cover almost any claim about a mother's health.
Josh Hetzler runs the Founding Freedoms Law Center, and he says one missing word changes everything.
The amendment grants an unqualified fundamental right to reproductive freedom to every "individual," without any limitation on age.
"Among other wild consequences, it will eliminate statutory rape laws for consenting minors," Hetzler said.
Former Delegate Robert Marshall says that same missing age limit would let minors get birth control, abortion, sterilization, or transgender procedures without their parents ever finding out.
Picture a fourteen-year-old girl driven to a clinic by an adult who isn't her mother or father, walking out with an abortion or a hormone prescription, and her parents finding out only when a bill shows up in the mail.
That's not a scare tactic invented for this article, it's the scenario Marshall and Hetzler both say the amendment's actual text allows.
Olivia Gans Turner of the Virginia Society for Human Life put it bluntly.
"The hard truth is that this amendment is not about protecting women's safe reproductive care," she said, "it's about allowing unlimited abortion up to birth."
Turner also warned the amendment would erase the requirement that only licensed doctors perform abortions, meaning "there will be no accountability under this new law."
The campaign pushing Amendment 1 is led by Virginians for Reproductive Freedom, backed by the ACLU of Virginia and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, state chapters of the same national abortion industry networks that pushed Michigan's amendment through in 2022.
Standing against them are Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Students for Life Action, the Virginia Catholic Conference, and Turner's own Virginia Society for Human Life.
Michigan Already Used the Same Legal Argument to Strike Down Three Abortion Laws
Virginia isn't the first state to pass an amendment written this way.
Michigan voters approved a nearly identical "reproductive freedom" amendment in 2022, and lawyers challenging it made the exact same argument Hetzler is making now.
The phrase "every individual" appears nowhere in the Michigan or federal constitutions with any age limit attached to it.
Three years later, a Michigan court cited that same amendment to strike down the state's 24-hour waiting period, its informed consent law, and its requirement that only licensed physicians perform abortions.
Michigan's parental consent law is still being fought over in court right now.
Michigan Catholic Conference president Paul Long said the ruling proved the amendment was never about protecting what was legal before Roe fell.
He said it was written to hand "constitutional protections to an industry."
Virginia's amendment leans on that same "compelling state interest" legal standard, wrapped in the same kind of vague ballot language that kept Michigan voters in the dark too.
Early Voting Starts September 18 and Virginia Courts Just Set a Precedent for Overturning Amendments
A Wason Center poll found 66 percent of Virginians support the amendment, and a separate Virginia Commonwealth University poll put support at 62 percent.
Both polls show the same thing: most Virginians are ready to vote yes without ever hearing Hetzler's name or his warning about statutory rape law.
A lawsuit challenging the ballot language as deceptive has been stuck in a Tazewell County courtroom since April.
Hetzler, who represents the plaintiffs, says the state has been "dragging its feet" on scheduling a hearing.
If the amendment passes anyway, Hetzler says "we would seek to be in court as soon as possible to ask the court to overturn the result."
He isn't guessing that a Virginia court would actually do that.
Virginia's Supreme Court struck down a different constitutional amendment on redistricting just weeks after voters approved it earlier this year.
Early voting starts September 18, which means Virginians could be locking in abortion up to birth before most of them ever read what Amendment 1 actually says.
Sources:
- Steven Ertelt, "Virginia Amendment 1 Creates Right to Abortion Up to Birth," LifeNews.com, September 8, 2026.
- Tyler O'Neil, "Virginia's Abortion Amendment Would Strike Down Statutory Rape Laws," LifeNews.com, July 22, 2026.
- Ballotpedia, "Virginia Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment (2026)," Ballotpedia.org, 2026.
- Michigan Catholic Conference, "Court of Claims Ruling Further Clarifies Devious Intent of Proposal 3," MICatholic.org, May 14, 2025.
- Charlotte Rene Woods, "If Va.'s Reproductive Rights Amendment Passes, Challengers Say They'll Fight to Overturn It in Court," Virginia Mercury, August 28, 2026.
