At the legislature today, with three weeks left in this session, the Senate suspended the constitutional rule that bills be read on three separate days to quickly move legislation to the house. In the House, the Government Organization committee has rejected a bill that would give County Commissions the authority to pass smoking regulations. These stories and more legislative news coming up on The Legislature Today.
Tag: Abortion
Abortion Bill Debated Nearly Two Hours in the House
Delegates approved six pieces of legislation Wednesday including a Senate bill that allows emergency responders, doctors, and family members to administer a drug to reverse the effects of an overdose. But it was House Bill 2568, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act that got the most discussion on the floor before it was ultimately approved.
Members of the House debated the 22-week abortion ban for nearly two hours on the House floor. Republican and Democratic members alike stood to back the bill including Delegate Lynne Arvon from Raleigh County.
“This is about protecting a five month old or above unborn baby from pain. Period. That’s what we’re discussing today,” Arvon said, “We’re not discussing whether we should have abortion or not. If this bill passes, abortions will be allowed up to five months for any reason. I don’t agree with that, but we have to start somewhere. And there is a debate about whether the baby experiences pain or not, but there’s not debate in my mind. I carried three children, I said that yesterday, I know they experience pain.”
Delegate Tom Fast of Fayette County said the government has a right to protect lives.
“The reason we have these laws is because government has a civil duty to protect human life,” Fast said, “I hear over and over and over again about a woman’s right to choose. We had a debate yesterday about rape and incest. I can be sympathetic with those situations, truly, they are bad situations, but you have to understand, we need to understand that Government has a duty to protect human life. The Scripture was quoted a minute ago. Where does that duty come from? That duty comes from Almighty God that gives individual rights, that gives family rights, that gives church rights, and it also gives rights and duties to civil government.”
Delegate Saira Blair of Berkeley County expressed concern for the fathers of unborn children.
“She has every right to visit her doctor and consult her doctor about what to do, she has every right to visit her minister and make decisions, but one thing that I’m really interested in today is that not once has she had the right to visit the father of the child either,” expressed Blair, “and I will never understand that, and I know that there are a lot of men in here right now who would like to stand up and say, well you know where’s my decision? But they can’t, and so I would like to stand up for them, because they would come off as selfish, but it’s not selfish, it’s just as much your decision. And I think this is the first step we can take to representing, not just the child, but the father of the child as well.”
Only Democratic Delegates stood to oppose the abortion ban, including Delegate Nancy Guthrie of Kanawha County. Guthrie said she supports funding for family planning and birth control to prevent future abortions.
“And finally, what I’m really for, and I pray that all of you gentlemen in this room, I’ve said it before and I will say it again, would start to campaign for mass production and use of male birth control,” Guthrie said, “because to be honest with you, I’m tired. Every single year, we have a bill like this that comes before us, and it’s never about you, it’s never about you, it’s always about us. Why don’t you be in charge of reproductive health for the next couple of decades?”
Delegate Dave Pethtel of Wetzel County said he stood with women and is against the bill.
“Ladies, I’m proud to stand with you today, in speaking and voting against this bill, because I believe that when a woman has to make one of the most difficult decisions in her life on whether or not to have an abortion,” noted Pethtel, “especially in high risk, complicated pregnancies, that decision should between her, her doctor, her family, and her God, not the Government. Never the Government. Because the law is that a woman does have the right to choose, and it’s really no one’s business.”
Delegate Linda Longstreth is a Democrat who stood to back the bill, but says she’s still concerned with some of its provisions.
“I asked yesterday and argued the point about rape and incest that seemed to be overlooked today for the fact that yes, there are young children who are raped, nine, ten years old with no support. Do you ask them to carry that child to complete term? And what do they do with that child? Will she make it that long without committing suicide? We don’t know, that is not our choice to make, and that’s a very personal, very personal thing,” Longstreth said, “I’m going back to what I said yesterday about the United States, the House of Representatives. They will not pass this bill themselves until these exceptions are put in, because they found it too restrictive. I’m saying today, this is restrictive, vote your conscience.”
The bill was ultimately approved by lawmakers on a vote of 87 to 12. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.
Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is Discussed in the House
State lawmakers are again pushing the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in West Virginia, despite last year’s veto.
The House Health and Human Resources Committee began discussing House Bill 2568 Thursday. Witnesses speaking to the committee disagreed on whether a fetus can or cannot feel pain at the 20 week gestation mark.
Dr. Mitzi Payne, a Pediatric Neurologist at Marshall University says they can’t.
“Because when we’re looking at what neuron connects to another in our pathological specimens, it’s not telling us how they’re functioning, it’s just if they’re there or not, and just because a neuron might be connecting to another neuron in the subcortical plate that an adult might be responsive we don’t know that in the fetus. Just because it’s there, physically there, doesn’t mean one part is talking to the other,” said Payne.
Jennifer Popik, an attorney and a representative with the National Right to Life says they can.
“We’re very cognizant that there is some dispute in the medical community about this. And the courts tell us, you know, we don’t need to be 100%, but there just needs to be a body of evidence that you all find. And we can definitively, you know, we can show with an overwhelming, a more overwhelming body of evidence that at 20 weeks, we can more safely say that,” Popik said.
During a House of Delegates public hearing Thursday, opponents called the proposal likely unconstitutional and intrusive into doctor-patient relationships.
Proponents cited moral and religious grounds.
The Democratic-run Legislature passed a similar proposal overwhelmingly last year. But Governor Tomblin vetoed the legislation over constitutionality concerns.
Tomblin says he’d veto the bill again if it’s the same. The legislature, now in the hands of Republicans, need a simple majority to overturn his veto.
Teacher Planning, Abortion Ban Among W.Va. Vetoes
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed about 200 bills and vetoed eight this year, leaving teachers and abortion opponents unsatisfied. Tomblin vetoed a bill to…
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed about 200 bills and vetoed eight this year, leaving teachers and abortion opponents unsatisfied.
Tomblin vetoed a bill to keep school administrators from scheduling tasks for teachers during planning periods. Tomblin said the bill would have blocked collaborative planning among teachers and principals.
Pro-life groups opposed Tomblin’s decision to veto a ban on abortions after 20 weeks gestation.
Tomblin said state lawyers worried the bill would be unconstitutional. It resembled a law struck down in Arizona that the U.S. Supreme Court later decided not to reconsider.
Tomblin said he would look at another abortion ban if he considered it constitutional.
He also nixed a proposal to let some state workers take paid leaves of absence to help during emergencies, citing liability concerns.
Gov. Tomblin Vetoes 20-Week Abortion Ban Bill
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has vetoed a bill that would have banned abortion in West Virginia after 20 weeks.
The Democratic governor said he vetoed the legislation because of constitutionality issues raised by his legal team and attorneys for the Legislature.
The bill resembles a law struck down in Arizona that the U.S. Supreme Court later decided not to reconsider.
Because of the legal penalties it includes, Tomblin said the medical community thought the proposal would unduly restrict the doctor-patient relationship to the detriment of the health and safety of expectant mothers.
Tomblin said his legislative record and career show his priority in the “gift of life.”
The bill sparked days of debate about fetal pain and women’s rights before passing both Democratic legislative chambers overwhelmingly.
Senate Committee Amends House Abortion Bill
The women’s organization West Virginia Free gathered more than 50 supporters outside the state Senate Chambers to protest House Bill 4588, the pain capable unborn child protection act.
The bill was taken up in the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee and amended Tuesday, changing the felony charge for performing an abortion to a misdemeanor with a possible fine of up to $4,000.
The bill also permits abortions for women who may die or suffer irreversible damage to a bodily function as a result of the pregnancy and allows termination of a fetus who is deemed medically non-viable, or unable to survive on its own.
One of the lead sponsors of the House bill, Delegate Joe Ellington, is an obstetrician and said there is some confusion over the time limit in the bill. The House bill bans abortions 20 weeks from fertilization, which is often two weeks after a woman’s last menstrual cycle.
“Generally accepted in the medical community is that from 24 weeks from the last menstrual period is considered medical viability, so there’s only a two week difference from that,” he said.
When questioned by the chair if he had evidence that a fetus could feel pain at the 20 week mark, as supported by findings in the legislation, Ellington said he had not researched studies outside of what was contained in the bill.
Dr. Luis Bracero, a high risk OBGYN at the women and children’s hospital in Charleston spoke against the bill.
“I think that we need to let the decisions between patients and doctors, not be legislated by you guys. You need to respect patient doctor relationships and you should not be criminalizing physicians who do terminations of pregnancy. We have to have a little bit more empathy. You don’t know what the individual situation is. Everyone has their own story. It’s not one size fits all. They’re all different, they all have to be individualized and that’s what medicine is all about, individualization, and we have to respect that.”
Senate Judiciary Chair Senator Corey Palumbo said in his research on the issue, nearly 40 states have laws that prohibit abortions after 24 weeks or when a fetus is considered medically viable.
He said nine or 10 states have a law similar to what West Virginia is now considering and in at least three of those states the law has been overturned by the courts.
“Its fair to say that all the court decision that have been rendered at this point indicate that a 20 week ban in unconstitutional, but a ban at 24 weeks or after viability would be constitutional,” he said.
The Senator proposed an amendment changing the ban from a 20 week to 24 week ban, bringing West Virginia in line with a majority of the country.
The amendment, however, failed and Palumbo was the only committee member voting in support of it.
“That’s the form that has been consistently upheld by courts around the country,” he said after the meeting. “The version that we passed out of the committee has been rejected by courts in every published decision that I’ve seen.”
“So, I don’t know why we would try to move forward with a bill that time after time has been determined to be unconstitutional and rejected.”
The Judiciary Chair said he plans to talk with other senators about the amendment before the bill is introduced in his committee, but says he doesn’t expect to receive much support.
He added he expects court challenges should the 20 week ban be passed by the full legislature.