A 12-year-old testified passionately in the West Virginia legislature on Wednesday, opposing a new abortion ban that would ban the procedure in all but the most extreme cases.
“I play for college volleyball and I run on the track. My education is very important to me and I plan to do great things in life,” Addison Gardner of Buffalo Middle School told lawmakers during a special session. “If a man decides that I am an object and does unspeakable and tragic things to me, am I, a child, supposed to bear and give birth to another child?”
“Do I have to put my body through the physical trauma of pregnancy? Am I to suffer the mental implications, a child who had no say in what was done with my body? she added. “Some here say they are pro-life. What about my life? Doesn’t my life matter to you?
Lawmakers are currently considering House Bill 302, which would ban nearly all abortions except for medically emergency pregnancies, ectopic pregnancies, or fetuses deemed medically nonviable.
Following the Supreme Court decision invalidating Roe vs. Wadeand a West Virginia court ruling temporarily suspending state abortion laws dating back to the 1800s, Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, called on lawmakers to modernize and clarify abortion restrictions. abortion.
“From the moment the Supreme Court announced its decision in Dobbs, I said I would not hesitate to call a special session once I heard from our legislative leaders that they had done their due diligence. and were ready to act,” Mr. Justice said in a statement In Monday. “As I have said many times, I am a very proud defender of life and believe that every human life is a miracle worth protecting.”
At Wednesday’s hearing, many activists, medical professionals and concerned citizens opposed the bill, with some being escorted away to cheers as they went over their allotted speaking time. Lawmakers voted to amend the bill to add exceptions for victims of rape and incest.
House lawmakers finally passed the bill on Wednesday, sending it to the state Senate for consideration.
Supporters of the bill ignored chants of “face us” coming from onlookers and those outside the legislative chamber.
“What rings in my ears is not the noise of people here,” Republican Brandon Steele, an HB 302 supporter, told The Associated Press. “These are the cries of unborn children, tens of thousands of unborn children who died today. … Their blood cries out from the ground today that you end this scar on our state, that you remove this curse from this land that was imposed on us by a court so long ago.
Abortion restrictions in the state, where the procedure is currently allowed for up to 20 to 22 weeks, were temporarily suspended by a state court ruling last week.
Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Tara Salango issued a temporary injunction against West Virginia’s 1800s law making all abortions felonies, finding later laws and rulings blurred the legality of the disposition.
The decision allowed the Woman’s Health Center of West Virginia, the only abortion clinic in the state, to temporarily continue to operate.
“Complainants and their patients, particularly those who are pregnant as a result of rape or incest, are already suffering irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction,” Judge Salango said Monday. “The defendants will suffer no prejudice from this injunction which has not been suffered for the previous half century of non-enforcement of this crime. It is unfair to allow the State of West Virginia to maintain conflicting laws in its books.
“It just doesn’t matter if you’re pro-choice or pro-life,” she added. “Every citizen of this state has the right to know clearly the laws under which he is supposed to live.”
State officials challenged the decision and took it to a West Virginia appeals court.
Many Republican-controlled states sought to impose new restrictions on abortion or total bans since deer was shot in June.
The Independent Gt