Tag: Abortion

Telemedicine Bill Restricting Abortion Practices Approved in Senate

Senators have approved a House bill that clarifies the state’s telemedicine laws, but also creates a new restriction for certain treatments.

House Bill 2509 makes it clear that doctors can treat certain diseases in minors or adults who are still enrolled in public school. 

Those diseases include psychiatric disorders, attention deficit disorder, and intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“That was apparently something that had been going on before we passed the bill last year,” senate Judiciary Chair Charles Trump said Tuesday, “and our bill threw the continuation of some of those programs into jeopardy, so this will fix that.”

The bill, however, was also amended in the Senate to exclude another healthcare practice.

“It says a physician or healthcare provider may not prescribe any drug with the intent of causing an abortion,” Trump explained to his fellow Senators during a floor sesison.

The two step abortion pill is becoming a more common way to end pregnancies in the first ten weeks.

The bill was approved on a 34 to zero vote. 

How Does Women's Health Fare Under Trumpcare?

The House Republican health care proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act could have a profound impact on women’s health care coverage.

The ACA reformed several insurance provisions that affect women, including requiring coverage of no-cost birth control, not allowing insurance companies to charge women more than men and expanding coverage of pre-pregnancy care. Changes to these provisions would impact all women, but especially low-income women.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, one in three low-income women receives birth control from family planning clinics like Planned Parenthood while three quarters of higher-income women receive birth control from a doctor’s office.

President Trump has proposed major cuts to federal funding that support family planning clinics – a move that could disproportionately affect low-income women’s access to family planning services. Anti-abortion advocates have long supported defunding Planned Parenthood due to its role as an abortion provider. House Speaker Paul Ryan has said he supports redirecting women’s health resources from Planned Parenthood to federally qualified health centers, which, he said, will allow women to get the services they need without the controversy.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.

Group Advocates for Destigmatizing Abortion

A national reproductive health advocacy group is stopping in Charleston today to increase local conversation about abortion.

One in three women have an abortion in their lifetime, according to the group Advocates for Youth who is hosting a campaign by the same name.

Charleston its sixth stop on the 1 in 3 Campaign is nationwide tour. The tour includes stops in states with some of the strictest abortion laws in the country.

West Virginia advocates will gather tonight at the union building at 9 and at the Capitol at 10 after Live at the Levee to host a lightshow.

“West Virginians want to increase access to care and education rather than take itaway,” said WV FREE Executive Director, Margaret Chapman Pomponio in a press release about the initiative. “We want quality, affordable health care, maternity care, access to family planning, responsible sex education and options for unintended pregnancies.”

The tour will culminate Saturday, June 18, at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation.

House Passes Bill Banning Common Second-Trimester Abortion Technique

Members of the House of Delegates passed a bill that would ban a commonly used second-trimester abortion method.

Senate Bill 10 passed 86 to 13  in the House Monday. 

This bill bans dilation and evacuation, or D&E, abortions. It allows those procedures to take place, however, in cases of medical emergencies. Some OBGYNs have testified before lawmakers that the bill takes away one of the safest options for women and interferes with the doctor-patient relationship.

The bill was on third reading with pending amendments Monday. 

One amendment, offered by Del. Nancy Guthrie, a Democrat from Kanawha County, would have added a provision to allow for an elective D&E abortion if a woman was a victim of incest or rape if the rape is reported to a law-enforcement agency.

However, Del. Patrick Lane, a Republican from Kanawha County, pointed out that this provision was already covered in the bill, and the amendment was rejected on a role call vote of 16 to 82.

Senate Bill 10 now goes to the governor for consideration.

House to Vote on Bill Banning Certain Abortions

Members of the House will vote on a bill Monday that would ban a commonly used second-trimester abortion method.

Senate Bill 10 bans dilation and evacuation, or D&E, abortions, but allows those procedures to take place in cases of medical emergencies. Some doctors, however, have testified before lawmakers that the bill takes away one of the safest options for women and interferes with the doctor-patient relationship.

Delegates would have amended the bill Saturday, but after a motion from Majority Leader Daryl Cowles, the bill was pushed to third reading with pending amendments.

As of Saturday evening, only Del. Nancy Guthrie, a Democrat from Kanawha County had offered an amendment. It adds a provision to allow for an elective D&E abortion if a woman was a victim of incest or rape if the rape is reported to a law-enforcement agency.

The amendment and the bill will be voted on in the House Monday.

Senate OK's Ban on 2nd Trimester Abortion Method

A second-trimester abortion method would be banned in many instances under a bill that has passed the West Virginia Senate.

Senators voted 24-9 in favor of banning the commonly used abortion practice Wednesday.

Courts have already blocked similar bans that Kansas and Oklahoma enacted in 2015.

The bill would ban the dilation and evacuation method unless the doctor already had caused demise of the fetus. It would not ban the method in cases of medical emergency.

There would be no criminal or civil penalties, but physicians could potentially lose their medical licenses.

Democratic Sen. Ron Stollings, a physician, said he couldn’t vote to ban the safest second-trimester abortion method.

With Senate passage, the bill heads to the House of Delegates.

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