EDITOR’S NOTE: Question 1 on the Nov. 3 ballot is officially titled a “Right to Reproductive Freedom” amendment. If approved, it would write a constitutional right to abortion into the Virginia Constitution (codifying abortion in Virginia’s constitution), while allowing the state to restrict abortion in the third trimester except when a physician judges it necessary to protect the pregnant person’s life or physical or mental health, or when the fetus is not viable. Early voting begins Friday, Sept. 18.
Early voting starts Friday. On the November ballot, Virginians will decide whether to write a right to abortion into the state constitution.
That is not an abstract debate in Richmond. It is a choice that lands on women here — in Fredericksburg, Stafford, and Spotsylvania — who already have local places that treat pregnancy as something to support, not erase.
I am a woman. I know what fear and an uncertain tomorrow feel like. I also know women are stronger than the abortion industry tells them they are. That industry does not lift us up. It tells us we cannot handle a child.
A baby in the womb is not a clump of cells. When women are pregnant they have baby showers, not fetus showers. To live is a human right, whether the life is a pregnant mother, an immigrant, or a child not yet born.
We already have the alternative in this community. Mary’s Shelter in downtown Fredericksburg houses women and their children for up to three years and helps with maternal care, job training, and education. Choices Women’s Center offers free pregnancy care, counseling, and help for fathers. Birthright of Fredericksburg offers referrals and support. Those ministries exist because someone in this region decided a woman in crisis is worth more than a procedure.
Question 1 on the November ballot would lock abortion into the Virginia Constitution. We do not need that. We need more of what Mary’s Shelter and the other local ministries already do: housing, care, and the truth that a woman can choose life and not walk it alone.
If you have had an abortion, you are not beyond hope. If you are pregnant and scared, you are not alone. Call Mary’s Shelter at 540-376-2108, Choices at 540-370-1800, or Birthright at 540-898-8558.
We don’t need more abortion written into our constitution. We need more help for the women who already live here.
Mary-Margaret Marshall
Fredericksburg
Potomac Local News accepts letters to the editor on issues of local importance. Letters must include the writer’s name and town. Submit your letters to [email protected].
