Abortion Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Steve Williams Calls For Abortion Ballot Measure

Huntington Mayor Steve Williams has launched a petition calling for Gov. Jim Justice to include discussion of an abortion ballot measure during the special session in May.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June of 2022, and West Virginia lawmakers convened a special session in September of that year in which they passed the state’s near-total abortion ban or the Unborn Child Protection Act.

The Unborn Child Protection Act, also known as House Bill 302, outlaws abortions in West Virginia except in cases when the mother’s life is in danger, or instances of rape and incest that are reported to law enforcement in a timely manner. Any abortion performed must be done so in a hospital within eight weeks for adults and 14 weeks for minors.

“Women’s reproductive health certainly isn’t a right and it’s at risk,” Williams said. “And particularly the physicians that care for these women placed their own medical license at risk in assisting with women and there’s a level of uncertainty.”

Now, Williams, a Democrat running to be governor, is calling on Justice to include reproductive freedom on the agenda for the upcoming legislative special session.

Williams said if lawmakers believe the will of the people is to uphold the abortion ban, then they should have no trouble putting it to a vote.

“This is not this is not a matter of being pro-life or pro-choice,” Williams said. “This is a matter of freedom, and we’re just simply suggesting let’s put freedom on the ballot.”

The ballot measure, if approved by a Republican governor and Republican majority House and Senate, would allow voters the chance to vote on abortion rights in the state.

Williams referred to former President Donald Trump’s stance on abortion: to let states decide

“I agree with what former President Trump said, is that let’s put it in the hands of the people and let the people speak,” Williams said.

Voters in seven states — California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio and Vermont have approved abortion rights measures after they were put up for a vote. Several more states are expected to put the issue up for a vote this year as well.

Study Finds Sterilization Rates Rose Post-Dobbs Decision

More young people are seeking and following through with permanent contraception procedures.

A new study found that rates of young people seeking permanent contraception have risen since the overturn of Roe v Wade.

The study evaluated changes in rates of tubal ligation and vasectomy procedures among adults aged 18 to 30 following the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

The Supreme Court overturned Roe in June of 2022, and West Virginia lawmakers convened a special session in September of that year in which they passed the state’s near-total abortion ban or the Unborn Child Protection Act.

In a written statement, Kristin Sinning, Marshall Health obstetrician-gynecologist and professor at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, confirmed an increase in patients expressing interest in and proceeding with permanent sterilization within the past two years.

“Marshall Obstetrics and Gynecology offers patients a comprehensive range of contraception methods including permanent sterilization procedures,” Sinning wrote. “During the past two years, our clinics have experienced an increase in patients expressing interest in and proceeding with permanent sterilization. This is consistent with the findings outlined in the recent Journal of American Medicine Association article.”

Jacqueline Allison is an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Health Policy and Management and one of the authors of the study on rates of permanent contraception. She said the study was inspired by the conversations she had with friends and family following the overturning of Roe v Wade.

“I think a lot of people who with the capacity for pregnancy, including myself, felt a lot of fear and anxiety around the ruling,” Allison said. “And that fear and anxiety, as we saw in our study, translated to changes in contraceptive decision-making.”

Allison said the study found a substantial increase in both tubal ligation and vasectomy procedures among young people since the Dobbs decision.

“We also found that this increase in tubal ligation procedures was twice that of the vasectomies,” Allison said. “It was also the increase was also sustained in the post Dobbs period, whereas for vasectomies, there was sort of an initial uptick, and then the rate leveled off.”

There could be multiple reasons for those rates, but Allison suspects people who can get pregnant are more likely to experience the consequences of not being able to terminate an unwanted or unsafe pregnancy.

“Women disproportionately experience the health, social and economic consequences of abortion bans, whereas men may not experience those consequences as directly,” Allison said.

Another factor could be that men might not have health insurance coverage for a vasectomy. Allison explained that under the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate, all private payers are required to cover contraceptives, at no additional cost to patients.

“That mandate did not include the vasectomy,” Allison said. “So it’s also possible that men do not have insurance coverage for vasectomy, whereas women do have coverage for tubal ligation.”

Allison said she expected to see an increase in interest and follow through with permanent contraception procedures following the Dobbs decision, but did not expect the increase to be as pronounced as it was. She was also surprised to learn that younger people were already more interested in the procedures than their older counterparts were at their ages.

“Even before the Dobbs ruling, younger people were more likely to go out and get permanent contraception, or they were there, the rate was increasing, rather,” Allison said. “And that’s opposite, that’s not what we see when we look at like all adults or older adults. So it suggest to me that, you know, young people are increasingly choosing this option, even before Dobbs.”

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Marshall Health.

W.Va. Senate Passes Bill Requiring Schools Show A Fetal Development Video

The video is produced by an anti-abortion rights group and has come under fire over questions of scientific accuracy.

This story was originally published on npr.org and was co-written by Briana Heaney, Jason Rosenbaum, Morgan Watkins and Katarina Sostaric.

West Virginia’s Republican-supermajority Senate approved a bill that would require public schools to show a video on fetal development produced by an anti-abortion rights group.

The bill, referred to as the “Baby Olivia” bill, would require public schools to show a three-minute, high-definition video showing the “development of the brain, heart, sex organs, and other vital organs in early fetal development” to eighth graders and tenth graders.

The video is produced by Live Action, an anti-abortion rights advocacy group that produces media content. It begins by showing a sperm and egg meeting, followed by a flash of light and a narrator saying, “this is where life begins, a new human being has come into existence.”

It goes on to show the development of “Baby Olivia”, and what the fetus is capable of doing at each step in the gestational development.

Live Action says the video uses animation to portray the “miracles of early fetal development as an education tool.” But the video has come under criticism by legislators and advocacy groups over questions of medical accuracy and whether it’s appropriate to show to students.

Lila Rose, the founder of Live Action, says the video was made with a team of medical experts from the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetrics and Gynecology.

“This is when we date the beginning of human life. So it’s not, like, an opinion. It’s not a belief. It’s a scientific fact,” Rose told NPR.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecology is strongly opposed to the video and proposed legislation.

“Like much anti-abortion misinformation, the ‘Baby Olivia’ video is designed to manipulate the emotions of viewers rather than to share evidence-based, scientific information about embryonic and fetal development,” a representative told NPR in an email. “Many of the claims made in this video are not aligned with scientific fact, but rather reflect the biased and ideological perspectives of the extremists who created the video.”

The bill received pushback not only from Democrats in the chamber, but Republicans as well.

GOP state majority leader Sen. Tom Takubo said he would not vote for the bill because there is information in the video he said is “grossly inaccurate.”

“If we’re going to codify something that we’re going to teach as fact, it needs to be fact and therefore, we’ve codified a video that is not factual,” said Takubo, who is also a practicing pulmonologist.

Takubo also criticized an amendment added to the bill that would show the video in full, including a depiction of life beginning at conception.

“One of the changes we made in the Rules Committee was to say that whatever video we teach your children, it has to be scientifically accurate. That was removed with the amendment,” Takubo said on the Senate floor.

State Sen. Mike Woelfel, a Democrat, said he worried the video is based on religious beliefs which cannot be taught in school in accordance with the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“I would gladly show that video in a Catholic school that my grandchildren attend,” he said. “But I’ve taken an oath to obey the Constitution and to uphold it.”

GOP state Sen. Charles Trump agreed that although he personally agrees that life begins at conception, he thinks “it is an imposition of what is fundamentally a religious or spiritual belief. I don’t think it is a matter of proven or established science.”

Still, the amendment passed the Senate and that language is part of the bill that now goes to the House for a vote.

Similar bills have been proposed in Iowa, Kentucky, and Missouri

Republicans in the Iowa House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday evening that would require all schools, starting in seventh grade, to show students a video “comparable to the ‘Meet Baby Olivia’ video developed by Live Action.”

Two Republican lawmakers joined all Democrats in voting against it.

“It is not the role of our chamber to prescribe what people believe or require teachers to influence young people with propaganda,” said Democratic state Rep. Molly Buck.

Republican state Rep. Anne Osmundson said the video has been reviewed by medical experts, and schools would not be required to show that exact video.

“This is teaching basic biology to our children, and it helps to answer one of life’s biggest questions: where did I come from?” she said.

Kentucky’s version of the “Baby Olivia” measure also passed its first major hurdle this week in the state’s GOP-run legislature, after a committee cleared it for consideration by the full House of Representatives.

The bill requires public school districts’ health curriculum for grades 6 and up to include a prenatal development video.

Republican state Rep. Nancy Tate, the bill’s lead sponsor, suggested the “Baby Olivia” video is just one example of a presentation that would meet the bill’s requirements. While schools aren’t required to show that exact video, she said it will be “an easy start for school districts to use.”

A similar bill has also been introduced in Missouri that would require charter and public schools to show the ‘Baby Olivia” video developed by Live Action.

If passed, the bill would take effect during the 2024-2025 school year — and would give the state’s attorney general the power to enforce the provisions of the law.

Unlike the West Virginia bill, the Missouri bill has a ways to go. Its sponsor, state Rep. Mazzie Christensen, has clashed often with fellow GOP House Speaker Dean Plocher — who is responsible for shepherding bills to specific committees.

Abortion Pill Case To Be Heard By The U.S. Supreme Court

Developments in a legal battle over medication abortion in West Virginia could change access in the state.

GenBioPro v. Raynes

In November 2023, GenBioPro filed an appeal to a judge’s August ruling in its case against West Virginia’s near-total abortion ban.

In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Chambers dismissed some claims filed by pharmaceutical group GenBioPro in a lawsuit against the state’s attorney general Patrick Morrisey.

GenBioPro v. Raynes claimed that Morrisey violated federal law, more specifically the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, by prohibiting the sale of the drug in West Virginia.

“Mifepristone is a medication that is subject to a very specific set of regulations that Congress itself considered,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, GenBioPro’s legal counsel. “The state of West Virginia cannot and should not, under our constitution, be able to maintain a law that conflicts with that.”

The clause gives Congress broad power to regulate and restrict states from impairing interstate commerce.

“The theory is based on the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which unequivocally says that when federal law and state law conflict, it is the federal law, that must take precedence,” Perryman said.

However, Chambers, who presides over the southern district of West Virginia, said states have the right to regulate public health and morality by curtailing the sale of goods.

The court earlier ruled that GenBioPro had legal standing to bring a suit against the attorney general’s office on the basis of economic damages incurred by the company.

On Feb. 7, GenBioPro filed an appellate brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, arguing that West Virginia’s post-Dobbs abortion ban is in direct conflict with federal law.

The brief urges the Court to reverse the District Court’s August ruling in GenBioPro v. Raynes, which dismissed GenBioPro’s challenge to West Virginia’s near-total abortion ban.

According to Morrisey’s office, in August 2023, the district court dismissed the preemption claim against the state’s Unborn Child Protection Act and the constitutional challenges entirely, but it allowed the preemption challenge to the telehealth provisions to proceed.

Morrisey said GenBioPro removed the telehealth challenge in order to proceed with an appeal.

“GenBioPro won its challenge to the telehealth ban, which it is not pursuing now at this time, but the district court ruled for the state with respect to GenBioPro’s challenge to the abortion ban,” Perryman said.

Perryman said GenBioPro believes that West Virginia’s restrictions are unconstitutional and said that is why she is taking the case on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

National Litigation

In the first case of its kind since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, oral arguments for and against access to the abortion pill will be heard at the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26.

The outcome of the case will determine how and when patients can access mifepristone, a pharmaceutical approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000.

GenBioPro manufactures a generic version of Mifepristone. The medication is used in conjunction with Misoprostol for medical abortions and can be taken at home to terminate a pregnancy.

Mifepristone is currently approved for use up to 10 weeks gestation and is often used to treat miscarriages and accounts for more than half of abortions in the U.S.

Mifepristone was first approved by the FDA in 2000 and the agency required the drug to be prescribed in person, over three visits to a doctor. Since 2016, the FDA eased restrictions, allowing patients to obtain prescriptions through telemedicine appointments, and to get the drug by mail.

The original lawsuit was brought by the anti-abortion legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom.

On April 7, 2023, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk imposed a nationwide ban on mifepristone, declaring that the FDA had improperly approved the drug.

At practically the same moment, U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice in Washington state issued a contrary ruling, in a case brought by 17 states and the District of Columbia seeking to expand the use of mifepristone. Rice declared that the current FDA rules must remain in place.

While the case was argued in lower courts, the Supreme Court put the lower court decisions on hold, allowing the abortion pill to continue on the market as it had been. That stay will remain while the court considers the case.

The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine argues they have the authority to bring the case because the “FDA overlooked important safety risks in approving mifepristone and amending its restrictions.”

They argue the FDA depends on emergency room doctors to be a crucial component of the mifepristone regimen, as the treating physician in the event of complications.

“According to the doctors, when they treat women who are experiencing complications after taking mifepristone, they are required to perform or complete an abortion, or otherwise required to participate in a process that facilitates abortion,” the filing states. “They maintain that personally conducting those procedures violates their sincerely held moral beliefs.”

The Biden Administration responded that the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine failed to show “any evidence of injury from the availability” of the medication.

“This Administration will continue to stand by FDA’s independent approval and regulation of mifepristone as safe and effective,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

Dozens of groups have filed briefs with the supreme court, from both sides of the argument.

On Jan. 30, GenBioPro filed an amicus brief to SCOTUS in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. Federal Drug Administration.

In the brief, GenBioPro claims: “The court never examined the clinical studies underlying and amply supporting FDA’s 2016 changes, which reported that thousands of patients had successfully and safely used mifepristone under the modified conditions.”

Perryman released the following statement:

“The Fifth Circuit’s ruling in this case undermines decades of science and access to evidence-based medication, as well as the FDA’s regulatory authority,” Perryman said. “The ruling was not based on science or facts, but rather furthered another effort waged by extremists in their attacks on women’s rights and ability to access necessary medication.”

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. Federal Drug Administration on March 26, 2024.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Marshall Health.

Baby Olivia Video Bill Passes Despite Bipartisan Pushback

Senate Bill 468 requires that public schools show a four minute video on human development to eighth graders and eleventh graders. An amendment to the bill includes language that life begins at conception.

The Senate passed a bill that would require public schools to show a video on the early stages of human development.

Senate Bill 468 is known as the Baby Olivia bill. It requires that public schools show a four minute video on human development to eighth graders and eleventh graders.

The bill had support across party lines. Then controversy surrounded the bill Monday evening when Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, offered an amendment.

Grady’s amendment added language that life begins at conception.

Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, opposed the amendment because he said it could violate the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“Even though I agree with that,” Trump said, “I think it is an imposition of what is fundamentally a religious or spiritual belief. I don’t think it is a matter of proven or established science.”

The amendment barely made it out of the chamber, passing 18-15.

Sen. Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha, and a practicing doctor, said he was not going to vote for the bill because there is information in the video that is not medically accurate.

“The problem I have with it is there are inaccuracies in the video overall,” Takubo said.

He said that the bill that came out of the Rules Committee included compromises.

“One of the changes we made in the Rules Committee was to say that whatever video we teach your children, it has to be scientifically accurate. That was removed with the amendment yesterday,” Takubo said.

Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, stepped down from the dais to speak on the bill, a rare move. He said though he did vote against the amendment he would still vote for the bill.

“The world changes around us and I’m certain that the world’s going to change in the future,” Blair said. “The way the bill was constructed, until the amendment, allowed that flexibility. But we come back every year, this isn’t a big deal. I’m going to vote proudly for this.”

Tuesday, the bill was approved by the full Senate and heads to the House.

Making Childcare More Affordable, Accessible

On this episode of The Legislature Today, leaders from both sides of the aisle have declared that childcare for the working men and women of West Virginia is a priority regarding economic and workforce development. So far, there has been plenty of talk but little legislative action. Randy Yohe spoke with Del. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, and Del. Evan Worrell, R-Cabell, to explore the issue.

On this episode of The Legislature Today, leaders from both sides of the aisle have declared that childcare for the working men and women of West Virginia is a priority regarding economic and workforce development. So far, there has been plenty of talk but little legislative action. Randy Yohe spoke with Del. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, and Del. Evan Worrell, R-Cabell, to explore the issue.

In the House, the controversial Women’s Bill of Rights, House Bill 5243, was put back on the active calendar for third reading. And, yet another call for a legislative oversight committee to monitor yet another state government agency. Randy Yohe has more.

There was also a public hearing held in the House on a bill that would remove a sunset clause from the current oil and gas personal property tax. Briana Heaney has more.

In the Senate, the chamber is building momentum now that it is well into the second half of the legislative session. Ten bills were passed and sent to the House, two bills were passed and sent to the governor’s desk. Briana Heaney has more.

Finally, it was Childcare Advocacy Day at the Capitol. Childcare is one of the hot topics in the 2024 regular session, directly related to the state’s economic development. Randy Yohe has more.

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