The results are in from Virginia’s recent election, and the numbers tell a sobering story for defenders of life. Abigail Spanberger now sits in the governor’s mansion, making history as the commonwealth’s first female governor while simultaneously earning the distinction her opponents predicted: potentially becoming “the most anti-life governor in Virginia history.”
Spanberger didn’t hide her intentions during the campaign. She promised voters she would “absolutely veto” any abortion restrictions that crossed her desk and made codifying abortion in Virginia’s constitution a centerpiece of her platform. Her congressional record backed up these promises, earning her an “F” rating from one of the nation’s largest pro-life organizations after co-sponsoring the Women’s Health Protection Act and voting against born-alive protections.
The abortion industry took notice. Planned Parenthood’s Virginia affiliate endorsed Spanberger, praising her efforts to block restrictions on abortion services and protect what they called abortion “tourism” from other states. With Democrats now controlling both the governor’s mansion and the General Assembly, Spanberger has the legislative muscle to implement her agenda.
Lieutenant Governor Ghazala Hashmi brings her own concerning track record to the administration. As a state senator, she co-sponsored the constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion rights in Virginia and introduced legislation redefining abortion as “protected health care.” Hashmi has also repeatedly pushed to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the commonwealth.
Attorney General Jay Jones rounds out what Olivia Gans Turner, president of the Virginia Society for Human Life, calls “extremist” leadership. Jones recently made national headlines for text messages fantasizing about violence toward a member of the opposing political party and his family, raising questions about his temperament for the state’s top legal position.
“The victory of so many pro-abortion candidates means that more extreme bills will be passed in upcoming General Assembly sessions,” Turner explained. These measures will “protect abortion businesses and not vulnerable women and their unborn babies, expand legal cover for abortionists that break the laws of other states, and obstruct pregnancy care programs that protect unborn children.”
Republican state Senator Mark Peake sees the writing on the wall. “There will be no pro-life legislation here for the next four years,” he said. “The question will be, how much does this Democratic majority expand the right to terminate the life of unborn children? This also means that the constitutional amendment goes forward.”
Peake’s primary concerns center on removing parental notification requirements currently protecting Virginia families and degrading safety standards for abortion clinics. He also expects the new Democratic leadership to direct state funds toward Planned Parenthood, effectively forcing taxpayers to subsidize the abortion industry.
The blueprint for Virginia’s future may lie in the commonwealth’s recent past. Former Governor Ralph Northam, a physician, shocked even some abortion supporters in 2019 when he backed legislation legalizing abortion up until the moment of birth. His comments about infants born alive after failed abortions proved even more disturbing.
“If a child survived and was born alive, but showed signs of distress, the infant should be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and mother,” Northam said at the time.
The backlash was swift and bipartisan. Even one supporter of the bill called her vote a “mistake.” Yet Northam offered “no regrets” and proceeded to sign the “Reproductive Health Protection Act,” which stripped basic health and safety standards from abortion clinics. Jay Jones, then serving as a delegate and now the state’s attorney general, voted in favor of the measure.
This radical trajectory represents a stark departure from Virginia’s historical character as a conservative, pro-life state. Despite years of Democratic control transforming Virginia into what abortion advocates call a “stronghold” in the South, polling shows only 30 percent of Virginians support legal abortion in all cases. The disconnect between public opinion and political reality reveals the challenge facing families and faith communities in the commonwealth.
The implications extend beyond abortion policy. Spanberger’s record shows little concern for protecting young girls in other contexts. In 2023, she refused to support the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would prevent biological males from competing in girls’ sports programs. This decision came even after Virginia made national news for an attack by a male student in a girls’ school bathroom.
For Virginia’s pro-life advocates, the next four years will require sustained engagement at the grassroots level. While legislative victories may prove elusive, the work of changing hearts and minds through pregnancy resource centers, adoption agencies, and community support networks becomes even more critical.
The constitutional amendment process will likely become a key battleground. If Democratic legislators move forward with enshrining abortion rights in Virginia’s constitution, voters will have the final say. That referendum could become a crucial test of whether Virginia’s pro-life majority can translate into electoral success.
Churches and faith communities face a particular calling during this challenging period. They can provide practical support to families facing difficult pregnancies, advocate for vulnerable women who may feel pressured into abortion, and offer the hope that comes from recognizing the inherent dignity of every human life.
Virginia’s political landscape has shifted dramatically, but the fundamental questions about protecting life remain unchanged. The commonwealth’s children, both born and unborn, deserve leaders who recognize their inherent worth and dignity. Until that recognition returns to the governor’s mansion and General Assembly, the defense of life falls to citizens who understand that political setbacks, however significant, cannot diminish the truth about human dignity or the responsibility to protect the vulnerable.
Thomas Jefferson, Virginia’s most famous son, once observed that “the care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.” The commonwealth’s new leadership appears to have lost sight of this foundational principle.
It’s up to the everyday pro-life Virginians to fight and pray each and every day to protect the life of the most vulnerable struggling to be born.
