By Townhall Chicago News Staff
Virginia voters will decide this election on a proposed constitutional amendment that would establish abortion as a “fundamental right” under the state constitution, one of two ballot measures before voters this cycle.
The measure has drawn opposition from the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, where Bishop Michael Burbidge has directed pastors to address the amendments from the pulpit, according to Father Paul Scalia, a priest at Saint James Catholic Church in Falls Church who was interviewed on the broadcast.
Scalia said the amendment’s actual text goes further than the protections established under Roe v. Wade. “What this proposed amendment does is it embeds something in the constitution that’s even more radical than Roe versus Wade … removing parental rights and removing guards on the abortion industry,” he said.
Scalia also said the ballot question voters will see differs from the amendment’s full legal text. “The ballot language is very different from what’s actually being proposed in the amendment. It’s a bait and switch,” he said.
Larry O’Connor, the program’s host, said the amendment’s “fundamental right” language could prevent any future legislative restriction on abortion, including later in pregnancy. O’Connor also said Gov. Abigail Spanberger, in her first week in office, signed a proclamation placing the ballot question before voters.
Scalia said the amendment represents government overreach into questions of faith and morality. “Caesar is stepping in and trying to take what is properly God’s … that’s when the priests step forward and say, wait a minute, you’re overstepping your bounds,” he said.
A second proposed amendment on the Virginia ballot concerns marriage, according to Scalia, though its exact language was not detailed in the interview aired on the broadcast.
Scalia said his diocese’s opposition to the amendments is not personal toward supporters of the measures. “In speaking out against these amendments, we don’t say no to persons. We’re saying no to these amendments out of love for each person in the state,” he said.
The exact text of the ballot question and the full amendment language were not independently compared for this report. Virginia’s election is scheduled for November, with early voting already underway in several other states.
Scalia was ordained in 1996 and currently serves as pastor of Saint James Catholic Church, episcopal vicar for clergy for the Diocese of Arlington, and director of the diocese’s Permanent Diaconate Formation Program. He is the author of “That Nothing May Be Lost: Reflections on Catholic Doctrine and Devotion,” published in 2017.
