VA: Bedford County supervisor files suit challenging reproductive rights constitutional amendment

Later this year, Virginians are expected to formally approve or reject a measure to enshrine reproductive rights into the state’s constitution. But a new lawsuit filed this week in Bedford County seeks to upend the ballot referendum, arguing that state lawmakers didn’t follow the correct process in advancing it so far.

The plaintiff, Bedford County supervisor Charla Bansley, said in the legal complaint filed March 2 that the ballot initiative is invalid because Virginia’s House of Delegates did not distribute the amendment to all circuit court clerks and post it for public inspection three months prior to the 2025 House of Delegates election.

Bansley, who is represented by Liberty Counsel, claims that Bedford County, Campbell County and the city of Lynchburg told her attorney that the amendment was not sent to their circuit court clerks for public posting. The jurisdictions are not named as plaintiffs in the case.

To amend the state constitution, resolutions must pass the legislature two years in a row with a House of Delegates election in between. Lawmakers successfully passed the resolution to send a ballot referendum to voters statewide this coming November in both the 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions.



https://virginiamercury.com/2026/03/04/bedford-county-supervisor-files-suit-challenging-reproductive-rights-constitutional-amendment/