The Virginia Catholic Conference alerted Alexandria residents April 5 to an amendment proposed by the City Council of Alexandria to give special status to abortion facilities. Ten days later, at a City Council public meeting April 15, the Council unanimously voted in favor of Zoning Text Amendment #2023-00002, despite vocal opposition from pro-life citizens. The amendment changes the status of abortion facilities in zones for commercial and mixed use properties, allowing abortion facilities to be erected alongside ordinary businesses and restaurants.
In a staff report preceding the City Council meeting, the council described the zoning amendment and presented two statements in favor of the changes. The staff did not include any statements in opposition.
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge addressed the council meeting’s outcome in the April 18 episode of the “Walk Humbly Podcast.”
“The new zoning designation fails to consider neighbors in the community, and an abortion facility having a special ‘right’ to appear virtually anywhere they want will inevitably create issues when it appears next to a school, for example, or a daycare, or a church. The zoning board and the City Council I think rushed this through. Most people who are in the know in these types of matters were truly blindsided by this, and anytime the system is manipulated to achieve a specific outcome, it is clear that the wrong thing is being done,” Bishop Burbidge said.
According to the conference, the amendment now allows abortion facilities to establish themselves “by right,” which prioritizes abortion facilities over the city’s need for primary care physicians and health clinics.
“Abortion clinics should not be prioritized over other establishments that satisfy the current definition of a health profession office. Unlike the services provided by primary care physicians, gastroenterologists, and ear, nose, and throat physicians, all of which conduct outpatient surgery, abortion is not a preventative or life-saving health care service. It ends lives rather than healing or saving them,” the conference said.
Of the three abortion facilities within the boundaries of the Diocese of Arlington, two are located in Alexandria. In a 2019 report from the Virginia Department of Health, the department stated that the Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic failed the state’s health inspection and had numerous health code violations.
After the City Council adopted Resolution #3087 in 2022, the resolution requested the City Planning and Zoning staff “ensure that abortion service providers would be permitted by-right in commercial and mixed-use zones.” The Planning and Zoning staff recommended redefining the terms of “health profession office” and “medical care facility.”
Prior to the council meeting, definitions for “health profession office” and “medical care facility” included a thorough list of approved medical and health professions and practices. The staff’s changes, however, reduced or entirely removed these specifications while adding abortion-inclusive language.
Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson stated just before the vote that Alexandria council members had the authority to make these decisions, and citizens who disagreed would have to wait until the next election cycle.
The City Council’s amendment came amid numerous attempts by local and state governments to pass bills changing abortion regulations following last year’s Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. While states such as Idaho, South Dakota, Montana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama currently have full abortion bans in effect, states such as Minnesota and Colorado recently introduced laws that would allow abortions up until birth.
Recently, pro-life citizens and local Knights of Columbus councils held a prayer vigil on Good Friday April 7 outside of the Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic. The prayer vigil joined a nationwide “Way of the Cross for Victims of Abortion.”
This article has been updated.
Find out more
Sign up for a prayer vigil.
Call the Alexandria mayor’s office at (703) 746-4311.
