NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia is the political and policy leader of the pro-choice movement in Virginia. We work on the state level to develop and sustain a constituency that uses the political process in Virginia to guarantee every woman the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion.

We work to educate Virginians and policymakers about the broad range of issues encompassing reproductive choice and lobby our legislature to pass pro-choice policies and defeat anti-choice laws. We mobilize pro-choice Virginians to contact state lawmakers to make their voices heard on important reproductive rights and health issues and pending legislation. We provide Virginians with information on policymakers' voting records on reproductive rights issues and encourage them to vote pro-choice in state elections. Find out more about issues we work on in our "What is Choice?" section, and learn about how you can get involved.

While abortion is legal, anti-choice politicians work to put up barriers that make it unnecessarily difficult and expensive – and sometimes virtually impossible – for women to make that choice in reality.State legislatures across the country have enacted over 350 anti-choice laws since 1995, and Virginia is no exception.

State laws and policies have a huge impact on the practical ability of women to access reproductive health care, and different laws create significant differences in the reality of choice from state to state. Virginia currently receives a failing "F" grade in NARAL Pro-Choice America's rating of state's choice-related laws. Over the last decade, access to legal abortion care has steadily declined in Virginia and across the US. This particularly affects low-income women, rural women, women of color, and young women.

Meanwhile, anti-choice forces actively oppose initiatives that would actually reduce the number of unintended pregnancies (such as effective sex education, increased funding for family planning, or expanding access to emergency contraception) and reject policies that would better assist and support women who choose to continue their pregnancies.

NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia is only as strong as its thousands of members, volunteers and activists throughout the state. Visit our Get Involved section, or simply email info@naralva.org to find out more. You can also become a member and support our work. 

Being a member of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia means you want to be a part of moving Virginia forward, not backward, on reproductive choice. It means you value a woman’s right to make personal decisions about her family and her reproductive choices without government interference. It means you believe in giving Virginia’s young people comprehensive, medically accurate sex education. It means you care about ensuring that all women have access to birth control and other family-planning and reproductive health services.

NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia is a multi-partisan organization. Our commitment is to work with and support strong pro-choice lawmakers and candidates regardless of their political party.

NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia is one of the state affiliate organizations of NARAL Pro-Choice America, a national organization. We are a separate entity with our own distinct board of directors, staff and membership structure and separate activities. With reproductive rights under attack at both the federal and state levels, we work together closely with the national organization and our fellow state affiliates to advance pro-choice policies and combat anti-choice attacks at all levels of government.

NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia works on issues regarding Virginia's state laws and government, including the Virginia General Assembly and the executive branch (including the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General's offices). 

On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court voted 7-2 to strike down a Texas law prohibiting abortion, citing that it violated a woman’s right to privacy. This landmark decision is known as Roe v. Wade.

The Ruling Found:

• States are forbidden to interfere with a woman’s access to abortion during the 1st trimester of pregnancy.
• States can only regulate 2nd trimester abortions to protect a woman’s health.
• States can ban 3rd trimester abortions except if a woman’s life is in jeopardy.
• A fetus is not protected as a "person" under the 14th amendment.
• A woman's right to choose is a fundamental right and has the highest level of Constitutional protection.

The "NARAL" in NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia is no longer an acronym, but a reflection of our organization's history. When the national NARAL organization was founded in the pre-Roe v. Wade era, the letters stood for "National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws." Later, it changed to "National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League."