House West Virginia Delegates have introduced a bill that restricts abortion following the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversed decision in Roe v. Wade.
The final House vote was 69-23.
House Bill 302 is slated to be taken up in the upper chamber as early as Friday, according to the West Virginia Metro News:
House Bill 302 encompasses a range of abortion policies, eliminating any period after conception for a choice to end pregnancy. In recent years, West Virginia law had allowed abortion up to 22 weeks of gestation. The bill maintains criminal penalties of three to 10 years of incarceration for medical providers who perform abortions — the main provision of a law from the 1800s that had been inactive while Roe was observed — but specifies that the pregnant woman would not be charged.
The bill permits exceptions for non-medically viable foetuses, an ectopic baby, and a medical emergency. This is a situation that calls for an abortion immediately to prevent the death of the patient or serious damage to any major bodily functions.
The bill does not allow for miscarriage or stillbirth. It also allows established cell lines to be used from embryos aborted by human beings.
The article stated that the majority of delegate votes down many amendments. This included one that allowed for exceptions to incest or rape.
The bill does not prohibit the use contraceptives.
” I am pro-life because every life is valuable,” Brandon Steele, Republican Delegate to the Senate stated in this article. I’m not pro-life for any other reason. Every life I have is a gift of God, no matter how it was created .”
The Weirton Daily Times also reported on the bill, including concern expressed by the left-wing, pro-abortion American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG):
Of particular concern for ACOG was an amendment added to HB 302 by the House on Wednesday that allows for abortion in the instances of sexual assault or incest but only before the 14th week of gestation and only if the crime is reported to law enforcement.
“Most women and girls who are victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and reproductive coercion do not report the attack or ongoing attacks to law enforcement,” the ACOG letter said.”This law would be yet another failure to care for these women and girls from the physician’s perspective.”
If no amendments were adopted by senators who gavel in the bills, they will be sent to Republican Gov. Jim Justice.
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