SJR255 would have created a “right” to abortion in the Virginia Constitution.
The Virginia State Senate passed SJR255 on February 7, 2023 by a vote of 21 to 18. We have assigned pluses to the nays because the right to life is the most fundamental, God-given, and unalienable right asserted in the Declaration of Independence and protected by the U.S. Constitution and SJR255 violates that right. Furthermore, there should be a greater effort to provide specific protections for the right to life beyond those provided by the 4th, 5th, and 14th Amendments.