Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, called on the faithful to vote against two ballot initiatives.
Ballot Question 1 is the “Virginia Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment”; Ballot Question 2 is the “Virginia Remove Constitutional Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment.”
Bishop Burbidge wrote that Ballot Question 1
proposes an extreme and vague change to the Virginia Constitution that would create a legal right to unregulated abortions, performed by unlicensed abortion practitioners at any time during pregnancy. This threatens the health and safety of mothers and would allow for abortions targeting healthy babies all the way up to birth.
The amendment extends this so-called right even to minors. It would remove the role of parents concerning life-altering and irreversible decisions for their minor daughters.
Ballot Question 2 “would remove from our state constitution the truth, as Jesus taught, that marriage is between one man and one woman,” he continued. “It would also enshrine gender ideology by falsely separating the reality of one’s sex and gender, obscuring the truth that we are created in the image and likeness of God.”