West Virginia’s Republican-majority Legislature handed a near-total abortion ban Tuesday, making West Virginia the second state to move a ban because the Supreme Courtroom overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
The state Senate handed the invoice 22-7, and the Home accepted it 77-17.
Underneath the brand new measure, rape and incest victims might receive abortions at as much as eight weeks of being pregnant however could be required to make reviews to legislation enforcement officers. Victims who’re youthful than 18 would have till 14 weeks of being pregnant to acquire the process.
Abortions would even be allowed for medical emergencies underneath the invoice, which is headed for the desk of Republican Gov. Jim Justice.
Alisa Clements, the general public affairs director for Deliberate Parenthood South Atlantic, blasted the invoice.
“There may be nothing extra excessive than a legislation that strips individuals of the liberty to manipulate their very own our bodies, and our state lawmakers have shamefully pressured this despicable invoice down our throats, behind closed doorways in a matter of hours,” Clements mentioned in a press release Tuesday. “This merciless ban insults West Virginia medical doctors, endangering their sufferers’ lives whereas subjecting them to appalling authorities surveillance, and threatens to place different medical suppliers in jail merely for offering well being care.”
The ban is the newest in a wave of efforts for stricter abortion legal guidelines after June’s Supreme Courtroom ruling; Indiana turned the primary state to move an abortion ban final month.
That legislation can also be slim in its exceptions, which embody limits for acquiring abortions to 10 weeks post-fertilization in circumstances of rape and incest or to guard a girl’s well being.
