{"id":2692373,"date":"2026-10-27T17:21:01","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T21:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignvirginia-judge-allows-post-election-challenge-to-late-term-abortion-amendment\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T17:21:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T21:21:01","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignvirginia-judge-allows-post-election-challenge-to-late-term-abortion-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignvirginia-judge-allows-post-election-challenge-to-late-term-abortion-amendment\/","title":{"rendered":"VA Judge Allows Post-Election Challenge To Abortion Amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignvirginia-judge-allows-post-election-challenge-to-late-term-abortion-amendment%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2692373&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A Virginia judge has set a hearing date for a challenge to Virginia\u2019s abortion-on-demand constitutional amendment on the ballot this November, denying the state government\u2019s motion to prevent the hearing from proceeding.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Jack Hurley of the Tazewell Circuit Court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foundingfreedomslaw.org\/news\/tazewell-judge-sets-hearing-on-abortion-amendment-nov-13\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">denied<\/a> the commonwealth\u2019s motion and set a hearing date for Nov. 13, ten days after Election Day. In that hearing the Founding Freedom Law Center (FFLC) will argue for invalidating the abortion amendment if it passes on Election Day. Hurley is the same judge who <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/01\/28\/judge-virginia-democrats-gerrymandering-ploy-is-illegal-and-voided\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">consistently<\/a> ruled <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/02\/19\/judge-blocks-virginia-dems-unconstitutional-power-grab-for-now\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">against<\/a> the Democrats\u2019 power-grab gerrymander that would have rigged congressional districts to give Democrats 10 seats and Republicans one. Democrats ultimately <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/08\/virginia-supreme-court-strikes-down-democrat-gerrymander\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lost<\/a> that gamble in the Supreme Court of Virginia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis amendment is the most consequential question Virginians will face in a generation, and they are being asked to vote on it without being told the truth about what it does,\u201d Victoria Cobb, president of The Family Foundation of Virginia (of which FFLC is the legal arm), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foundingfreedomslaw.org\/news\/fflc-files-lawsuit-challenging-va-abortion-amendment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> at the time FFLC filed the complaint. \u201cThe Family Foundation is in court because the legislature failed in its duty to ask the question honestly, and Virginians deserve better than a rigged ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>FFLC\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/5eecbc7b39d48008de082248\/t\/69f34cd335b19c7d32a22f54\/1777552595199\/AAPS+v+VBOE.PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> to prevent the certification of election results in favor of the ballot amendment states that the language used on the no-restrictions abortion measure \u201cprofoundly misleads by omission and misrepresentation\u201d the voters when asking them to vote for it.<\/p>\n<p>The question for the measure reads:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>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\u2019s health is at risk or the pregnancy cannot survive?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The lawsuit states that the language heavily implies that the \u201cfreedom\u201d to abort an unborn child already exists, and that the new amendment would simply \u201cprotect\u201d that \u201cfreedom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the Ballot Language could forthrightly explain that the Proposed Amendment would \u2018establish\u2019 or \u2018declare\u2019 a freedom for abortion, it instead falsely pretends the right already exists and is only intended to be \u2018protect[ed].\u2019 Undoubtedly, this presents a deceptive and biased word choice,\u201d the lawsuit says, adding, \u201cThe Ballot Language fails to disclose that Virginia voters are being asked to approve a near-absolute \u2018fundamental right to reproductive freedom.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The amendment would establish virtually unregulatable third-trimester abortions for many reasons, including for reasons of the mother\u2019s \u201cmental health.\u201d It imposes a \u201c\u2018fundamental right to reproductive freedom\u2019 \u2014 that is, a right to freely engage in sexual and other reproductive conduct with essentially no possibility of governmental restraint at all,\u201d the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint goes on to list a litany of undisclosed consequences of the deceptive ballot measure, including the dissolution of parental notice or consent for minors to get abortions, the amendment\u2019s power to block most state regulations on child \u201ctransgender\u201d \u201csexual sterilization procedures,\u201d and relaxing licensure requirements and safety protocols for those who perform abortions. It will also \u201cend or severely limit Virginia\u2019s \u2026 ability to prohibit statutory rape, (f) ability to restrict sexual conjugal visits for Virginia inmates, and (g) ability to regulate the emerging assisted reproductive technology industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>FFLS is asking the court to recognize that the ballot language violates the Virginia Constitution and would therefore be invalid and have no effect even if it passed. The organization also raises a procedural issue as well, stating that it was not distributed in compliance with laws regulating proposed constitutional amendments.<\/p>\n<p>Virginia law requires that the House of Delegates send copies of the ballot language to the clerks of the commonwealth\u2019s circuit courts to be posted on the front doors of the courthouses, specifically for voter \u201cawareness.\u201d In this case, it should have been posted \u201cat least three months prior to the November 2025 general election,\u201d but it was not, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>The gerrymander effort <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/05\/08\/virginia-supreme-court-strikes-down-democrat-gerrymander\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">failed<\/a> because of similar procedural concerns, with Democrats attempting to rig the process to stop voters from having a meaningful say on the proposal, as required by Virginia law.<\/p>\n<p>In the abortion amendment case, plaintiff Meagan Kade, a Tazewell County resident and Bluefield Town Council member, stated, \u201cWe\u2019re not asking the court to decide one outcome over another. We\u2019re asking that the question be posed to voters honestly, and then let the citizens decide. That hasn\u2019t happened. So we have no choice but to challenge what they\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>   Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. As an investigative journalist, he previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Virginia judge has set a hearing date for a challenge to Virginia\u2019s abortion-on-demand constitutional amendment on the ballot this November, denying the state government\u2019s motion to prevent the hearing from proceeding. Judge Jack Hurley of the Tazewell Circuit Court denied the commonwealth\u2019s motion and set a hearing date for Nov. 13, ten days after<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2692374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/pexels-mart-production-7089623.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2692373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/pexels-mart-production-7089623.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2692373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2692373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2692373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2692374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2692373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2692373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2692373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}