Editorial: Legal in Virginia — for now

In a 6-3 ruling handed down on Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed what a draft opinion leaked in May suggested it would do: overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision which effectively protected a woman’s right to an abortion.

This is dark day for the nation and countless women will die as a result of this decision. While Virginians can be thankful the commonwealth does not have severe abortion restrictions that would today imperil the lives of women here, they must fiercely defend against further infringement on reproductive freedom.

The leaked draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito indicated not simply that the court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization would uphold Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, but that a majority supported overturning Roe and the 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

There was hope, however fleeting, that the court could issue a less thorough repudiation of Roe and Casey. On Friday, however, that hope was dashed as six justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, signed on to the majority opinion erasing 50 years of precedent.

Some 61% of Americans support a legal right to abortion but the decision effectively returns decisions about abortion regulations to the states, which means Americans living in different parts of the country will now face vastly different obstacles to receive the reproductive care that was once their constitutional right.

Twenty-six states have trigger laws or other statutes set to take effect in the absence of the legal protections established under Roe. That means millions of women no longer have access to safe and legal abortion procedures as of Friday or will lose that access in the coming days.

Nine states have adopted constitutional measures or other laws that protect the right to elective abortion and 12 states allow women to choose that medical procedure with some restrictions. Expect to see women who need abortions and have the means to travel to these states for care, as their mothers and grandmothers did in a pre-Roe world.

And then there’s Virginia. The commonwealth exists in a sort-of limbo with New Hampshire and New Mexico in having no constitutional right to abortion but no restrictions which take effect now that the court has overturned Roe.

That means abortion remains legal and accessible here — for now — due to determined activism that blocked severe restrictions intended to punish women who seek reproductive care and the medical professionals who provide it.

In 2011, the legislature approved a bill empowering the state Board of Health to regulate abortion clinics as hospitals rather than doctor’s offices, something known as a Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, or TRAP, law. It was an attempt to force clinics to close and make it near impossible to obtain an abortion.

Only national ridicule in 2012 caused Republican lawmakers to modify a bill that would have required women to endure an invasive transvaginal ultrasound in order to access abortion services. A revised measure passed the legislature and was signed by Gov. Robert McDonnell.

And there have been efforts over the years — and as recently as February — to pass laws that would restrict abortion in most cases to 20 weeks after pregnancy. The most recent attempt was thwarted by the slim Democratic majority in the Senate.

The court’s ruling in Dobbs will serve to embolden anti-abortion advocates in the commonwealth. Shortly after the ruling, Gov. Glenn Youngkin called for a Mississippi-style, 15-week ban and tasked four Republican lawmakers with drawing up restrictive legislation.

That makes clear Virginians must mount a vigorous defense to protect the right of women here to access safe reproductive care as they and their doctors see fit. Given a Senate majority in the next election, Republicans will add the commonwealth to the list of states where it is difficult or impossible to obtain abortion services.

The Supreme Court will no longer protect those rights. Virginians must do it themselves.