Follow WTOP’s coverage of the Virginia Election 2023.
Virginia’s pivotal election is coming up on Nov. 7, and many voters will have the issue of abortion on their minds as they cast their ballot.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade last year, numerous states have implemented abortion restrictions — and that will likely happen in Virginia too if Republicans take control of both the House of Delegates and the Senate.
The Virginia House of Delegates is currently controlled by the GOP with 49 Republicans, 46 Democrats and five vacancies.
Of the 40 seats in the state Senate, 22 are held by Democrats and 18 by Republicans.
Every state lawmaker will be on the ballot, meaning the election will determine which party controls the General Assembly.
“If Republicans control both chambers of the legislature and the governor’s office, you can expect significant restrictions on abortion in Virginia,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political-science professor at the University of Mary Washington.
Abortion is currently legal in Virginia through the first and second trimesters of pregnancy, which is about 26 weeks. Pregnant mothers can still get an abortion in the third trimester but they need three doctors to sign off, saying that the health of the mother is at risk if not carried out.
More Virginia election coverage:
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- What will Virginia elections tell us about 2024?
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has pushed for a ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest and when the life of the mother is at stake.
“This is a place where I think we can bring people together,” Youngkin said in a previous interview with WTOP. “We are seeing in poll after poll that coming together around 15 weeks is a place where folks feel like they can land, and I’m encouraged by that.”
Democrats who control the Senate have quickly voted down all bills related to abortion restrictions that have been supported by Republicans who control the House.
A recent poll from The Wason Center at Christopher Newport University showed that 54% of Virginians oppose Youngkin’s proposed 15-week ban, while 39% support it.
According to the poll, 49% said the state’s current laws on abortion should stay the same, while 23% said the state should make the laws less restrictive and 24% said the laws should be more restrictive.
“The two political parties are much more ideologically distinct in Virginia than they used to be,” Farnsworth said. “Divided government in any form in Virginia these days is going to mean very little legislative success for either side.”
Another major issue on the minds of voters is education, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll.
That survey showed that 70% of registered voters said education is a “very important” factor in their vote for the Virginia legislature this year.
“Education is one of those issues where both the Democratic and the Republican activists are very energized,” Farnsworth said. “If there was a unified Republican majority in Richmond, there would be greater pressure levied against more liberal school districts to toe the standards established in Richmond.”
Some of the more controversial policies from the Youngkin administration call for student participation in certain school programming and use of school facilities like bathrooms or locker rooms to be based on the sex assigned at birth.
The policies also say that students who are minors must be referred to by the names and pronouns in their official records unless a parent approves the use of something else.
“In some school districts, there’s been a lot of pushback,” Farnsworth said. “With a Democratic Senate, there’s a bit more support for that resistance. If the Republicans end up controlling both chambers of the legislature and the governor’s office, then you can expect much more conservative dynamics and pressures on local school boards.”
