Virginia General Assembly Update – Week 4
Virginia General Assembly Update – Week 4
It was another very eventful week of the General Assembly session. Here are key updates.
Assisted suicide: Yesterday, the Senate assisted suicide bill failed in an 8-7 committee vote! The House bill has not been considered yet. We will keep you posted. Thank you to everyone who acted on our alert, and thank you to the eight senators who voted NAY!
Speeches on abortion ballot question: Last week, we shared a floor speech by Delegate Wren Williams that highlighted the extraordinarily lopsided wording of the question voters will see when they decide on the abortion referendum this November. This week, a second floor speech – this time by Delegate Eric Zehr – drew further attention to how misleading the wording is. We are grateful to Delegate Williams and Delegate Zehr for their compelling remarks about this unjust disservice to Virginia voters.
VCC testimony: This week, we again testified in committee on a wide range of issues.
We testified FOR bills that would:
- Protect babies born alive after attempted abortions
- Improve palliative care
- Provide minimum wage protections to farmworkers
- Help faith-based organizations provide affordable housing in their communities.
We testified AGAINST bills that would:
- Force health plans to cover contraceptives and even some abortion-causing drugs
- Shield Virginia doctors from prosecution if they provide illegal “telemedicine abortions” to patients in other states.
Update on date for referendums: The date is now official. On Nov. 3 of this year, Virginia voters will decide referendums on proposed constitutional amendments that would enshrine abortion as a “fundamental right”, remove the one-man/one-woman definition of marriage, and restore voting rights. In their statement when the General Assembly passed the proposed amendments, Bishop Burbidge and Bishop Knestout emphasized, “We will be deeply engaged in the work of helping to educate voters on these proposed amendments, and will fight the extreme abortion amendment with maximum determination.” Much more to come!
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In prayer and in public, your voices are urgently needed to bring Gospel values to bear on vital decisions being made by those who represent you.
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The Virginia Catholic Conference is the public policy agency representing Virginia’s Catholic bishops and their two dioceses.
