CHARLESTON — In November, West Virginia voters will decide if the state’s constitution should be amended to make it clear women are not guaranteed the right to abortion. 

The Nov. 6 ballot will ask voters if they want to add a sentence stipulating that nothing in the constitution “secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of abortion.” 

To make the ballot, the proposal had to win two-thirds of the votes in each chamber of the state Legislature.  Both chambers are controlled by Republicans, though cross-over votes by Democrats in each chamber helped ensure the majority needed for a voter referendum. 

“It’s not just about Medicaid funding,” ACLU of West Virginia Executive Director Joe Cohen said. “ The proposed amendment is incredibly radical.  Proponents are not even trying to hide how radical it is — the language is incredibly clear.  I believe once West Virginians look at it, they’ll see how radical it is and vote it down.  The words ‘no constitutional right to abortion’ goes well beyond Medicaid funding.” 

But Wanda Franz, president of West Virginians for Life, said a yes vote will “give people a say in what they want in the constitution.” 

“I think it’s very important to stop state funding of abortions,” Franz said. “ West Virginia taxpayers (don’t want) their tax dollars pay for abortions.  Although abortion is a right under the federal constitution, it is not considered an entitlement program — a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Harris v McRae, made that clear.  The federal government has been limiting funding for abortions since 1980, I think.” 

West Virginia has funded abortions since 1993, when the state Supreme Court struck down a law that prohibited Medicaid from paying for abortions except in cases of rape and incest, to protect the life of the mother or if the unborn child has severe birth defects.  In essence, the court found that if the state funds medical services for women who carry their babies to term, it also must fund services for women who choose to terminate their pregnancies. 

In 1993’s Womens Health Center of West Virginia v Panepinto, Chief Justice Margaret Workman wrote that the law in question “constitutes a discriminatory funding scheme which violates an indigent woman’s constitutional rights.” 

Cohen said if the amendment passes, the initial impact will be that poor and working-class women would no longer have access to state Medicaid funds to pay for medically necessary abortions. 

“But, longer term, the potential impact is even more stark. …  There will be no protections whatsoever, under any circumstances, for the right to abortion under our state constitution,” Cohen said. “ Because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v Wade, our federal Constitution does include abortion rights.  However, the people pushing the amendment are the same people who have been trying to get Roe v Wade overturned for the past 25 years.  If this amendment passes and Roe v Wade is reversed, performing an abortion would immediately become a crime in West Virginia.  There’s a law currently on the books that makes it a felony punishable by 3-10 years in prison.” 

But Franz said as long as Roe v Wade is the law of the land, lawmakers can’t ban abortion, even if the amendment were to pass, though that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t like to see Roe v Wade reversed. 

Franz said the focus “is on correcting the issue of funding abortions in West Virginia, making the state’s constitution “abortion neutral” — meaning it neither supports or outlaws a woman’s right to an abortion. “ That includes the funding of abortions, so people of the state would no longer pay for it with tax dollars, with exceptions, of course.” 

Those exceptions — cases involving rape or incest, the life of the mother or fetal deformity — “were in the original legislation that triggered the state Supreme Court’s intervention in 1993,” Franz said. 

“The idea is to clear out the court’s interpretation of what’s in the constitution and return the right to make decisions about abortion and its funding to the legislative branch, so in future it would be legislators ... who are empowered to make decisions about funding,” Franz said. 

Cohen said Roe v Wade is very tenuous, given the current makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court, so if Roe is reversed and West Virginia’s constitutional amendment passes, “there’ll be no protections, federal or state.”  Cohen is banking on West Virginians being so outraged at what the amendment could do that “they’ll want to fix this at the ballot.” 

“I always knew our best chance of defeating this was taking it to the people of West Virginia,” he said. “ I feel like there are more extremists and zealots in the West Virginia Legislature than in the (general population).  I trust the people of West Virginia more than I trust the politicians.” 

Franz, though, insists a positive vote is simply “returning the question to the people.” 

“Our legislators had the courage to pass this and return the question to the people so they could say what they want,” she said. “ We believe West Virginians do not want to pay for abortions.” 

Watch this discussion. Stop watching this discussion. 

(0) comments

Welcome to the discussion. 

Keep it Clean.  Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.Don't Threaten.  Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful.  Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice.  No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive.  Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us.  We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.