A majority of voters backed three proposed amendments to Virginia’s constitution Nov. 3, relating to abortion rights, same-sex marriage and voting rights for convicted felons who complete their prison sentences.
The three measures appeared on ballots across the commonwealth as Ballot Questions 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The Virginia Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of Virginia’s bishops, opposed Ballot Questions 1 and 2 and supported Question 3 on voting rights. The Arlington diocese also mounted a Catholics Vote No campaign against the first two amendments concerning abortion and the definition of marriage.
Question 1 on abortion passed 62% to 38%; Question 2 to rewrite constitutional references to marriage was approved 57% to 43%; while Question 3 on voting rights was ratified 56% to 44%, according to the unofficial results posted on the Virginia Department of Elections website Nov. 4.
In a joint statement issued by the VCC, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge and Richmond Bishop Barry C. Knestout said they were “profoundly disappointed” by voters’ approval of Ballot Question 1 and 2, and thanked those who “worked tirelessly” in opposition to the first two constitutional amendments, which both still face uncertain legal challenges in court on procedural grounds.
“To everyone who engaged in this effort, we urge you to persevere in faith and hope — anchored in the sure knowledge that God is the Author of life and marriage,” Bishops Burbidge and Knestout said. “No vote can alter the sacredness of human life. Nor can any vote change the reality that marriage is and can only ever be the union of one man and one woman.”
The bishops welcomed approval of Question 3, saying it “will provide a second chance for people who have completed their time of incarceration to participate in the political process.”
In a separate statement, Bishop Burbidge called approval of the abortion measure tragic and lamented the same-sex marriage amendment’s passage.
“Despite this defeat, faithful Catholics may be consoled by the certainty that each one of us gave God our best efforts, and that he will not allow those efforts to be in vain,” Bishop Burbidge said. “We are ‘one nation under God,’ and this remains true even when faith and morals are defeated at the ballot box. As people of faith resolved to live by God’s divine and natural law, we recognize that fundamental truths, such as the human right to life and the sacredness of marriage, can never legitimately be put to a vote, even in a democratic nation.”
