West Virginia passes 'fetal pain' law

[Valin]

Washington Examiner:

Paige Winfield Cunningham

March 7, 2015

 

West Virginia has become the first state this year to prohibit abortions midway through pregnancy, even as a federal version of the ban remains stalled in Washington.

 

On Friday, state senators overrode Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's previous veto of the provision — which restricts most abortions past 20 weeks of pregnancy — making West Virginia the fifteenth state with such laws on the books.

 

The measure is the latest "fetal pain" law to be passed by a state. Based on the idea that a fetus can feel pain halfway through a pregnancy, these laws have been among the most successful strategies employed by anti-abortion activists in recent years.

 

For some time abortion opponents had been eyeing West Virginia as ripe for passing such a law, but ran up against some roadblocks last year when Tomblin vetoed it and the Democrat-led legislature didn't call a special session to override the veto.

 

But when Republicans seized control of both chambers in November, activists saw the door open again. Tomblin vetoed the measure — saying he has constitutional concerns with it — but first the House and then the Senate, on Friday, overwhelmingly overrode his veto.

 

(Snip)

 

 

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