NORFOLK, Va. — This fall, Virginians will vote on whether to adopt three constitutional amendments that would enshrine abortion access, same-sex marriage and voting rights for people who have completed felony sentences. The questions on whether those amendments should be adopted will appear on the ballot in November’s election, where Virginians will also decide who should represent them in Congress.

Though fundraising on both sides of the causes is heating up, last month’s campaign finance reports show that the amount of money sunk into the amendment campaigns is dwarfed by the $70 million political action committees spent on advertising for April’s redistricting referendum.

Here’s what you need to know about what’s on the ballot and who’s donated so far:

Abortion

“Question: Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to (i) protect the freedom to make personal decisions about prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage management, and fertility care; (ii) protect doctors, nurses, and patients from being punished for these decisions; and (iii) allow for restrictions on access to abortion during the third trimester of pregnancy except when the patient’s health is at risk or the pregnancy cannot survive?”

Abortion is legal in Virginia through the end of the second trimester at 27 weeks and six days of pregnancy. Virginia code requires that abortions during the second trimester must be done at a licensed hospital. Third trimester abortions are allowed only in extreme cases, if three doctors agree that the continuation of the pregnancy is likely to result in the death of or irredeemable harm to the woman.

Since the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Virginia is the only southern state that has not reduced abortion access. In 2024, Virginia saw a 16% increase in clinician-provided abortions, likely due to an influx of patients from other states with new or more restrictive abortion laws.

Last month, former Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears launched a “Life & Marriage” tour across Virginia to campaign against the reproductive health and marriage amendments. That tour is billed under the slogan “Faith. Family. Freedom,” which is the name of a Super PAC that funds Christian conservative candidates. In a post promoting the tour, Earle-Sears also tagged Winsome PAC, which had about $56,000 on hand as of May of this year.

Other political action groups formed specifically as referendum committees campaigning against the abortion group include No Safeguards, No Deal, a group affiliated with the Family Foundation that had raised $127,000 and had about $7,000 on hand as of last month.

The Virginia Catholic Conference LLC, affiliated with Catholic Diocese of Richmond and Arlington had $8,000 on hand as of the last report. The Virginia Medical Professionals for Women’s Safety, which is affiliated with the American Association of Pro-Life OBGYNs, had raised $54,000 with $15,000 on hand. And Virginians for Safe Reproductive Policy, which had received $25,000 each from the Virginia Society for Human Life and from the Virginia Catholic Conference, had about $40,000 on hand.

By contrast, Virginians for Reproductive Freedom had about $1 million on hand. Large donors included the ACLU, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Virginia.

Marriage

“Question: Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to (i) remove the ban on same-sex marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race; and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law?”

Same-sex marriage has been legal federally since 2015 and in Virginia since October of 2014. But in 2006, Virginians, with 57% of the vote, approved a constitutional amendment that defined marriage as solely between one man and one woman. The General Assembly repealed the statutory ban on same-sex marriage in 2020. The ban still exists in the state’s constitution, though it remains unenforceable so long as same-sex marriage is legal federally.

As of last month, Virginians for Marriage Equality — affiliated with Equality Virginia Advocates — had raised $120,000 with $16,000 on hand. The largest donations were from the ACLU of Virginia, which contributed $96,000.

Voting

“Question: Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended (i) to provide for the fundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth, (ii) to revise the qualifications of voters so that a person convicted of a felony is not entitled to vote during his period of incarceration but is automatically invested with the right to vote upon release from incarceration, and (iii) to update the existing prohibition on voting by persons found to be mentally incompetent to instead apply to persons who have been found to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting?”

Virginia permanently takes away voting rights for people convicted of felonies, except at the governor’s discretion. Gov. Abigail Spanberger announced last month that she restored the right to vote to more than 60,000 people since taking office. That’s compared with former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who restored the rights to vote of more than 4,300 people during his first year in office and fewer every year for the remainder of his term.

The constitutional amendment, if adopted, would provide for the automatic rights restoration for people who have completed their felony sentences. The amendment also provides that someone found by a court to not have the capacity to understand the act of voting is not allowed to vote. That’s a change from current Virginia law, that says someone who has been found to be mentally incompetent is not qualified to vote.

So far, Virginians for the Right to Vote, which supports the amendment, has raised $240,000 from New Virginia Majority.

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