Virginia Code

Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-72 (2026)

When abortion lawful during first trimester of pregnancy

✓ current as of May 2026

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Notwithstanding any of the provisions of § 18.2-71, it shall be lawful for (i) any physician licensed by the Board of Medicine to practice medicine and surgery or (ii) any person jointly licensed by the Boards of Medicine and Nursing as an advanced practice registered nurse and acting within such person's scope of practice to terminate or attempt to terminate a human pregnancy or aid or assist in the termination of a human pregnancy by performing an abortion or causing a miscarriage on any woman during the first trimester of pregnancy.

1975, cc. 14, 15; 2020, cc. 898, 899; 2023, c. 183.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 6 cases, 1981–2018 · leading case: Simopoulos v. Commonwealth, 277 S.E.2d 194 (Va. 1981).

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Simopoulos v. Commonwealth, 277 S.E.2d 194 (Va. 1981). · cites it 6× “§ 18.2-72. *1066 3. Such process is lawful during the second trimester when performed by a licensed physician in a licensed hospital.”

Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic, 506 U.S. 263 (1993). “Even without relying on the federally protected right to abortion, petitioners’ activities infringe on a number of state-protected interests, including the state laws that make abortion legal, Va. Code Ann. §§ 18.2-72 , 18.2-73 (1988), and the state laws that protect against…”

Richmond Med. Ctr. for Women v. Gilmore, 55 F. Supp. 2d 441 (E.D. Va. 1999). · cites it 3× “Under Va.Code Ann. § 18.2-72, it is lawful to perform an abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy, the only limitation being that it must be performed by a licensed physician.”

Richmond Med. Ctr. for Women v. Gilmore, 11 F. Supp. 2d 795 (E.D. Va. 1998). · cites it 3× “Under Va.Code § 18.2-72, it is lawful to perform an abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy, the only limitation being that it must be performed by a licensed physician.”

Sawyer v. Childress, 12 Va. Cir. 184 (Norfolk Cir. Ct. 1988). · cites it 3× “Giving the language of §§ 18.2-72, 18.2-73 and 18.2-74 their plain and unambiguous meaning according to traditional standards of statutory construction, the Court holds that the legislature, when it enacted those statutes, could have enacted a statute to proscribe abortions…”

Falls Church Med. Ctr., LLC v. Oliver, 346 F. Supp. 3d 816 (E.D. Va. 2018). · cites it 3× “) Plaintiffs also take issue with § 18.2-72 of the Virginia Code, adopted in 1975, the so-called "Physician-Only Law," which exempts only licensed physicians from Virginia's general criminal ban on abortion.”

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