Oct. 21, 2026 Editor, The News-Gazette: I am writing to offer correct information about Amendments 1 and 2 since the advertising insert that was recently in the paper was full of falsehoods.
Amendment 1 is seeking to keep reproductive freedom in Virginia, no matter what happens at the national level. It will ensure that decisions about prenatal care, childbirth, and contraception can be made by the woman and her doctors without fear of interference from law enforcement. In states without these protections, there have been pregnant women with complications sent away from the hospital because the doctors and nurses were afraid to give appropriate treatment. Amendment 1 will protect the doctors and nurses so that they will not be afraid to render care to their patients.
The proposed amendment specifically allows the state government to pass laws to regulate abortion care in the third trimester of pregnancy. It does require any law to allow for abortion care when it is medically needed to protect the life and health of the pregnant woman or because the fetus is not viable. These facts are quite different from the exaggerations that were presented in the insert concerning third trimester pregnancies.
Amendment 2 is seeking to protect the right to marry who you love regardless of your gender. Because the wording of the amendment included the trigger word “gender,” people like the authors of the insert think that the amendment is about transgender policies. It is not. Fundamentally, this amendment is about the right for two adults to marry.
This amendment does allow for clergy to retain their right to decline to perform those marriages.
I hope our local voters make their decisions about these amendments based on their own research and do not rely on the propaganda that was found as an insert in our paper. RENE HASEY Lexington
