By Katherine Van Dyke
This November, Virginians will be presented with two monumental questions on their voter ballots that directly impact the respect for human life and family within the commonwealth. The first question asks Virginians if they want abortion to be enshrined as a “right” in the state’s constitution. The second question asks Virginians if they want to redefine marriage in Virginia’s constitution from the current language that states that marriage is a union between one man and one woman to a “right” between two consenting adults, regardless of sex and gender. What is proposed in both amendments is radical and troubling for a multitude of reasons, but most especially for Catholics.
The Catholic Church has taken and continues to take a firm stance on upholding the value and dignity of human life and the sanctity of marriage. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “the deliberate murder of an innocent person is gravely contrary to the dignity of the human being, to the golden rule, and to the holiness of the Creator. The law forbidding it is universally valid: it obliges each and everyone, always and everywhere.”
The Church also defends marriage as a covenant between a man and woman that is both love-giving and life-giving. A closer look into the proposed amendments shows that these amendments not only ignore but vehemently reject what the Church teaches on life and family. (For more information on what these amendments propose, please click here.)
However, additionally concerning is the fact that there are six members of Virginia’s house and senate who voted in favor of both amendments and who, on their respective Virginia assembly webpages, profess that they are Catholic. Five of these men and women even associate themselves with specific parishes within Virginia’s two dioceses. Here is what each of them has said about abortion and/or marriage on their own websites and social media platforms:
- Senator Jeremy McPike posted the following on his X page after the two amendments were approved for November’s ballots: “We took a major step forward today on the VA Senate floor passing constitutional amendments to safeguard reproductive freedom, protect marriage equality, and the automatic restoration of voting rights!” Senator McPike also sponsored the abortion amendment.
- Former delegate David Bulova was given an approval rating from the pro-abortion website “Choice Tracker” for his vote in support of the abortion constitutional amendment.
- Del. Elizabeth Guzman stated in a 2025 news article that “it is time that we codify Roe v. Wade into the Virginia constitution, so no legislator has any say on a woman’s personal medical decision that is very personal, and it belongs to a woman and their doctor, nobody else.”
- Del. Patrick Hope admits on his website that he cosponsored the abortion amendment and that he supports “the right to a safe and legal abortion” and “Virginians’ right to access birth control.” His site continues, “I will oppose any effort to limit the right of a patient . . . including attempts to legislate a patient’s decision to end a pregnancy.”
- Del. Karrie Delaney was endorsed by Planned Parenthood in 2025.
- Del. Fernando “Marty” Martinez was also endorsed by Planned Parenthood in 2025 and has supported pro-abortion and pro-contraception laws despite identifying as a Catholic.
Though he did not vote on these amendments specifically, for years VA US senator Tim Kaine has proudly declared his support for abortion, while also claiming to be a practicing Catholic. Most recently, he joined Senator Mark Warner and introduced a bill to “protect access to reproductive health care,” saying he was “proud to be joining [his] colleagues in introducing this legislation to protect access to abortion nationwide.”
These public contradictions between professed Catholic identity and support for measures directly opposed to the Church’s moral teaching raise the question of Canon 915, which says that those “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.” Canon 915 is not a political weapon; rather, it protects Jesus in the Holy Eucharist from sacrilege, protects the faithful from scandal, and calls to repentance and reconciliation with the Church those public officials who have separated their public actions from Catholic teaching.
These politicians are not only promoting great evils, such as abortion and redefining marriage, but they are putting their souls in danger by doing so. If they receive Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist when they attend Mass, they cause scandal and confusion for others and defame Our Lord in the Eucharist.
As Catholics, we must pray for the conversion of Catholic politicians. We are called to correct, not from a place of condescension or judgment of their souls, but out of true charity and desire for them to go to heaven and to recognize the real and perfect presence of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. This is why the Church has given Canon 915 to our clergy, deacons, and extraordinary ministers of the Holy Eucharist and why it is so necessary that they enforce it.
We encourage all the faithful reading this to join us in the following:
- Pray for the protection of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist through the enforcement of Canon 915.
- Pray for the conversion of all Catholic politicians and public figures who persist in manifest grave sin by promoting such evils as proposed in these amendments.
- Pray for the conversion of all people, Catholic or not, who also support these evils and for the defeat of these amendments.
- Share the information found on our Save Virginia Campaign page with fellow Virginians.
- Vote NO to both the abortion and marriage amendments.