---
type: "Bill"
title: "Surrogacy contracts; provisions requiring abortions or selective reductions unenforceable."
description: "Surrogacy contracts; provisions requiring or prohibiting abortions or selective reductions unenforceable. Provides that any provision of a surrogacy contract requiring or prohibiting an abortion or selective reduction is against the public policy of the Commonwealth and is void and unenforceable."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "SB 163"
citation: "Virginia SB 163 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mark J. Peake"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 33
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2022-01-10"
last_action: "2022-05-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ae16c0d9-65da-449f-9362-0e280f55db14"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+SB163"
source_hash: "6a53dc8c957f9b195bf90c14a6d2b607d48ceb84494574f32316754e1322b448"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia SB 163 (2022) — Surrogacy contracts; provisions requiring abortions or selective reductions unenforceable.

Surrogacy contracts; provisions requiring or prohibiting abortions or selective reductions unenforceable. Provides that any provision of a surrogacy contract requiring or prohibiting an abortion or selective reduction is against the public policy of the Commonwealth and is void and unenforceable.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **CHAP0800** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+CHAP0800)
2. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22100591D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB163)
3. **Printed as engrossed 22100591D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB163E)
4. **SB163ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB163ER)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice (10-Y 9-N) — **10–9** (pass) · lower
- Rereferred from Education and Health (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Senate rejected Governor's recommendation (19-Y 20-N) — **19–20** (fail) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary with amendments (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (52-Y 48-N) — **51–48** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 1-N) — **7–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Mark J. Peake — primary (person)
- David R. Suetterlein — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2022-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/12/22 22100591D `introduction`
- **2022-01-10** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-13** Rereferred from Education and Health (14-Y 0-N)
- **2022-01-13** Rereferred to Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2022-01-31** Reported from Judiciary with amendments (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-01** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2022-02-02** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-02** Reading of amendments waived
- **2022-02-02** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2022-02-02** Engrossed by Senate as amended SB163E
- **2022-02-02** Printed as engrossed 22100591D-E
- **2022-02-03** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2022-02-22** Placed on Calendar
- **2022-02-22** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-22** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-22** Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-23** Subcommittee recommends reporting (7-Y 1-N)
- **2022-02-25** Reported from Courts of Justice (10-Y 9-N) `committee-passage`
- **2022-02-28** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2022-03-01** Passed by for the day
- **2022-03-02** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-02** Passed House (52-Y 48-N) `passage`
- **2022-03-02** VOTE: Passage (52-Y 48-N)
- **2022-03-07** Enrolled
- **2022-03-08** Signed by President
- **2022-03-08** Signed by Speaker
- **2022-03-22** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 22, 2022
- **2022-03-22** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2022
- **2022-04-11** Governor's recommendation received by Senate
- **2022-04-27** Senate rejected Governor's recommendation (19-Y 20-N)
- **2022-04-27** Communicated to Governor on April 27, 2022
- **2022-04-27** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., May 27, 2022
- **2022-05-27** Approved by Governor-Chapter 800 (effective 7/1/22) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ae16c0d9-65da-449f-9362-0e280f55db14`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).