A bill banning abortions except in case of rape or incest is up for a final vote Friday in West Virginia's Senate, which could make the state the first to pass new legislation restricting access to abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last month removing its protected status as a constitutional right.
Several Republican-led states had "trigger" abortion bans in place in advance of the court ruling, but West Virginia lawmakers are taking action because of legal uncertainty over whether a ban from the 1800s that was upended by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision could be enforced now.
The high-profile example of a 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio, a state without an exception for rape in its abortion restrictions, who traveled to Indiana for an abortion has amplified the debate. The bill also provides other exceptions for an ectopic pregnancy, a "nonmedically viable fetus" or a medical emergency that could kill or cause a substantial and irreversible injury.
The vote in the GOP-dominated House on Wednesday came amid a protest from dozens inside the Capitol and followed a raucous public hearing in which most speakers -- given just 45 seconds each to voice their opinions or be cut off -- opposed the bill. Another speaker, Lorrie Lugursky of West Virginians for Life, said she got pregnant at 15 and was told an abortion was her best option but didn't go through with it. "God saved my baby girl," she said.
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