Virginia

In Bergaust v. Flaherty, the plaintiff (a mother), brought a petition for child support against the putative father. The two met during a trip to France and had a long-distance relationship for 18 months. After returning to Virginia from another visit to the defendant in France, the plaintiff learned she was pregnant. Because the defendant was her only sexual partner during the relevant time period, she informed the defendant that the child was his. The defendant said he would help in any way he could and called twice a week during the pregnancy.

Under Virginia law, it is a Class 4 felony to cause the destruction of an unborn child, abortion, or miscarriage through medical procedure, drugs, or other means.

This Virginia law allows officers to make an arrest without a warrant in certain cases of assault and battery, or stalking, against a family or household member. Instead of a warrant, the arrest must be based on probable cause, the officer’s personal observations, the officer’s investigation, or a reasonable complaint from a witness.

Under Virginia law, a victim has a civil cause of action against an individual who engaged in stalking conduct prohibited under Code of Virginia § 18.2-60.3, regardless of whether the individual has been charged or convicted for the alleged violation, for the compensatory damages incurred by the victim due to the conduct plus the costs for bringing the action. A victim may also be awarded punitive damages in addition to compensatory damages.

As implemented under The Virginia Values Act, Virginia law prohibits local government entities, including departments, agencies, and boards, from engaging in employment discrimination on a broad range of protected grounds. These grounds include race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy and related factors, such as age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and military status.

This Virginia law prohibits employers from discriminating between employees on the basis of sex by paying less wages to employees of a certain sex than employees of the opposite sex for equal work on jobs that require equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to a seniority system, a merit system, a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or a differential based on any other factor other than sex.

This Virginia law provides the judges of the juvenile and domestic relations district court jurisdiction over petitions filed by a juvenile seeking judicial authorization for a physician to perform an abortion if a minor elects not to seek permission from an authorized person.  This statute further specifies that after a hearing, a judge can issue an order authorizing a physician to perform an abortion, without the consent of any authorized person, if the judge finds that (i) the minor is mature enough and well enough informed to make her abortion decision, in consultation with her phy

This section of the Virginia Code provides that a cause of action resulting from sexual abuse during incapacity or infancy accrues upon the later of the removal of incapacity or infancy or when facts of the injury and its causal connection to the sexual abuse is first communicated to the person by a licensed physician or psychologist. 

Health insurance carriers are barred from discriminating against individuals based on gender identity or transgender status in the provision of health coverage. Health plans must cover services without imposing restrictions, additional costs, or exclusions that treat transgender individuals differently from others. Carriers are required to treat covered persons consistent with their gender identity and may not deny coverage for health services ordinarily available to one sex simply because an individual’s gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth.

Virginia law on the property rights of married persons establishes that each spouse retains full and independent control over their own property, both real and personal, as though unmarried. A married person may acquire, use, manage, and dispose of property free from claims arising solely from the debts or liabilities of the other spouse. Neither spouse has automatic rights to the possession, profits, or use of the other’s property during marriage, and protections ensure that creditors cannot reach one spouse’s assets to satisfy the obligations of the other.