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 In 2020, Virginia repealed numerous medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion access.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 Notification and Consent Requirement
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement

Restrictions

Virginia law generally prohibits abortion after viability, unless 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.1 It also prohibits the D&X method of abortion.2 Virginia also limits public funding for abortion.3 Virginia law generally requires that a parent or “authorized person” be notified prior to a minor’s abortion4 and consent to it.5 Alternatively, a judge can approve a minor’s petition.5

Virginia’s targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws include requirements related to facilites,7 which are enjoined,8 reporting.9 Providers who violate Virginia abortion restrictions may face criminal penalties.10

State Protections

Virginia law does not include express constitutional or statutory protections for abortion. To the contrary, in 2017, Virginia enacted House Resolution 268 indicating its policy preference to ban abortion to the fullest by designating January 22 as the “Day of Tears” in the state to mourn the anniversary of Roe.11 On this day, Virginia citizens are “encouraged to lower their flags to half-staff to mourn the innocents who have lost their lives to abortion.”5 However, in 2020 Virginia enacted the Reproductive Health Protection Act, 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.13 In 2021, Virginia passed a law that removes a prohibition on state exchange insurance coverage of abortion.14 Virginia protects clinic safety by prohibiting trespassing.15

Post-Roe Prohibitions

Virginia repealed its pre-Roe ban in 1975.16

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, abortion will remain accessible in Virginia, but without legal protection. In 2020, Virginia repealed numerous medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion access.

  1. VA. CODE ANN. u00a7u00a7 18.2-71, 18.2-74 ↩︎
  2. Id. u00a7 18.2-71.1. ↩︎
  3. Id. u00a7u00a7 32.1-92.1, 32.1-92.2. ↩︎
  4. Id. u00a7 16.1-241(w). ↩︎
  5. Id. ↩︎
  6. Id. ↩︎
  7. Id. u00a7 18.2-73. ↩︎
  8. Falls Church Med. Ctr., LLC v. Oliver, 412 F. Supp. 3d 668, 705 (E.D. Va. 2019). ↩︎
  9. VA. CODE ANN. u00a7 32.1-264. ↩︎
  10. See, e.g., id. u00a7u00a7 18.2-71-71.1 ↩︎
  11. H.R. 268, 2017 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Va. 2017). ↩︎
  12. Id. ↩︎
  13. Va. Code Ann. u00a7u00a7 18.2-72, 18.2-76. ↩︎
  14. Va. Code Ann. u00a7 38.2-3451. ↩︎
  15. Id. u00a7 18.2-119; see also Nat’l Org. for Women v. Operation Rescue, 726 F. Supp. 1483, 1495u201396 (E.D. Va. 1989), rev’d in part sub nom. Bray v. Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic, 506 U.S. 263 (1993). ↩︎
  16. VA. CODE ANN. u00a718.1-62 et seq. (1971), repealed by 1975 Va. Acts 18, ch. 14, u00a71, ch. 15, u00a71. Text of the restriction found in note 1, see Russo v. Commonwealth, 207 Va. 251, 252, 148 S.E.2d 820, 822 (1966). ↩︎