Virginia Democrats pass constitutional amendments blasted by Republicans

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia's Democratic-led Senate on Tuesday passed constitutional amendments on abortion and voting rights that were quickly lambasted by Republicans who could use the issues as the party tries to regain ground in November's statewide elections.

The Senate passed the resolutions in two party-line votes. In a 24-15 bipartisan vote, senators also passed a resolution repealing a now-defunct ban on same-sex marriage backed by Sen. Adam Ebbin, the first openly gay lawmaker elected to the legislature. The Democratic-led Virginia House of Delegates passed similar legislation on all three issues earlier this month.

''We will enshrine these rights to our Constitution, ensure our freedoms are no longer at risk, and hand the power back to the people,'' said Democratic Sen. Jennifer Boysko, who sponsored the abortion resolution.

Tuesday's debates provided insight into what lawmakers could campaign on this November, when all 100 seats of the House of Delegates will be on the ballot. Proposed constitutional amendments must be passed twice by lawmakers in at least two years, with an intervening election between the two sessions. Then the amendments can go to a public referendum.

Republican lawmakers blasted Democrats for refusing to add language to the abortion amendment that would explicitly require parental consent for minors.

''When it comes to the amendments, we pick parents' abilities to be able to be involved in their children's decisions as the highest priority,'' Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle, a Republican from central Virginia, said at a Tuesday news conference. ''Those are the things that we are fighting for this session and will continue to fight for.''

In a raucous debate, Democratic Sen. Barbara Favola found fault with the argument.

''Not every family is loving and supportive — not every family has the best interest of the child,'' Favola said, later adding: ''There are cases where a child is raped by her father, her stepfather. There are cases where a family would evict ... their daughter because she became pregnant.''

But Republican Sen. Tara Durant described the abortion amendment, which doesn't distinguish between adults and children, as an assault on parental rights.

''We are no longer going to respect parental authority and shred the very fabric of us as a mother, as a father,'' Durant said. ''And to say strangers will make that decision that can threaten your child's life — if anything, we should never forget this moment.''

Republicans also criticized Democratic Sen. Mamie Locke's resolution enshrining the right to vote, which revises the process the state currently uses to restore voting rights for people convicted of felonies. Earlier this week, McDougle unsuccessfully proposed that those convicted regain their voting rights only after fully paying any restitution owed to victims and that those convicted of violent felonies be denied voting rights unless they're restored by the governor.

In response, Locke remarked that each person is ''more than the worst thing they have ever done.''

''It has nothing to do with restitution. It has nothing to do with whether or not someone committed a violent or nonviolent felony," Locke said Tuesday following the votes. ''It has to do with the fact that the individual, once they have served their time, they have a fundamental right to vote once they get out.''

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Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.