The main theme of the opposition was the bill discriminates against low-income women. “Four years ago I had an abortion,” Caitlin Gaffin said. “I was a grad student working a part-time job and I had moved back home to take care of a family member. I...
The overwhelming majority of the four dozen speakers opposed the bill. The bill’s lead sponsor, Fayette County Republican Delegate Kayla Kessinger, attended the hearing along with House Speaker Tim Armstead and several other delegates. The bill would ban...
Amanda Schwartz, of WV Free, offered a different opinion of the legislation. “This bill’s sole purpose is to score points with religious conservatives in West Virginia,” she said. “It is wrong and unconscionable to use poor West Virginia women as political pawns.”...
Cohen, of the ACLU, noted that the make-up of the U.S. Supreme Court changes and that Roe v. Wade “is under constant threat.” “There would be no impediment from the state constitution for anything they would want to do,” he said. “It’s so frustrating because this...
In 1993, the state Supreme Court overturned a state law banning Medicaid funding of abortion, ruling that Medicaid exclusions of abortion are unconstitutional. Then-Chief Justice Margaret Workman wrote in the opinion that the law “constitutes a discriminatory funding...
West Virginia Free members gathered at the University of Charleston Thursday night to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. It was their annual benefit gala to fundraise for their organization that works for reproductive justice for West...
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