After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Not Protected

Virginia

Abortion will remain accessible in Virginia, but without legal protection. In 2020, Virginia repealed numerous medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion access.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, Viability
  • Method Ban

Restrictions in Effect

  • Parental Involvement, Parental Consent Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Notification Requirement
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement

State Protections

Virginia law does not include express constitutional or statutory protections for abortion. However, in 2020 Virginia enacted the Reproductive Health Protection Act, repealing numerous medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion access.1 Virginia protects clinic safety by prohibiting trespassing.2

In November 2024, a House of Delegates committee brought forward a constitutional amendment that would protect the right to abortion in all three trimesters, and resolutions were passed by Virginia’s House of Delegates and Senate in January 2025.3 Proposed constitutional amendments must be passed twice by lawmakers in two consecutive years with an intervening election between the two sessions before they can go on the ballot in a general election.4

Restrictions

Virginia law generally prohibits abortion after viability with certain exceptions.5 It also prohibits the D&X method of abortion.6 Virginia also limits public funding for abortion.7 Virginia law generally requires that a parent or “authorized person” be notified prior to a minor’s abortion and consent to it.8Alternatively, a judge can approve a minor’s petition.9

Virginia’s targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws include requirements related to facilites,10 which are enjoined,11 reporting.12 Providers who violate Virginia abortion restrictions may face criminal penalties.13

Historical Restrictions

Virginia repealed its pre-Roe ban in 1975.14 In 2021, Virginia passed a law that removes a prohibition on state exchange insurance coverage of abortion.15

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, abortion will remain accessible in Virginia, but without legal protection.

  1. See Va. Code Ann. §§ 18.2-72, 18.2-76 (repealing several TRAP provisions, removing a mandatory twenty-four-hour waiting period and biased counseling requirement, and authorizing physicians and certain advance practice clinicians (APCs) to provide abortion care); see also Va. Code Ann. § 38.2-3451 (removing a prohibition on state exchange insurance coverage of abortion. ↩︎
  2. Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-119; see also Nat’l Org. for Women v. Operation Rescue, 726 F. Supp. 1483, 1495–96 (E.D. Va. 1989), rev’d in part sub nom. Bray v. Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic, 506 U.S. 263 (1993). ↩︎
  3. S.J. Res. 247, 2025 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Va. 2025). ↩︎
  4. Va. Code Ann. § 30-19. ↩︎
  5. Va. Code Ann. §§ 18.2-71, 18.2-74.  Exceptions include abortions performed by a licensed physician in a licensed hospital with three physicians certifying that the continuation of the pregnancy will result in death of the pregnant person or impair their mental or physical health. ↩︎
  6. Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-71.1. ↩︎
  7. Va. Code Ann. §§ 32.1-92.1, 32.1-92.2. ↩︎
  8. Va. Code Ann. § 16.1-241(w). ↩︎
  9. Va. Code Ann. § 16.1-241(w). ↩︎
  10. Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-73 (allowing abortions during the second trimester only if performed in a hospital). ↩︎
  11. Falls Church Med. Ctr., LLC v. Oliver, 412 F. Supp. 3d 668, 705 (E.D. Va. 2019) (“the requirement that non-surgical second trimester abortion procedures—up to the point of viability—be performed in outpatient surgical hospitals, present a substantial obstacle to women seeking an abortion and impose an undue burden on that right, in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Enforcement of those provisions, in their current form, will be enjoined.”). ↩︎
  12. Va. Code Ann. § 32.1-264. ↩︎
  13. See, e.g., Va. Code Ann. §§ 18.2-71–71.1. ↩︎
  14. Va. Code Ann. §18.1-62 et seq. (1971), repealed by 1975 Va. Acts 18, ch. 14, §1, ch. 15, §1. Text of the restriction found in Russo v. Commonwealth, 148 S.E.2d 820, 822 n.1 (Va. 1966). ↩︎
  15. Va. Code Ann. §38.2-3451. ↩︎