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CHARLESTON -- The West Virginia House of Delegates passed bills Tuesday creating a 15-week abortion ban and prohibiting the in-state sale of certain fetal body parts.
The House passed House Bill 4004 prohibiting abortions after 15 weeks of gestation, in a 81-18 vote Tuesday afternoon.
Delegates Brent Boggs, D-Braxton, Nathan Brown, D-Mingo, Ed Evans, D-McDowell, and Ric Griffith, D-Wayne, voted with the Republican majority. Mercer County Republican Delegate Joe Ellington, an obstetrics and gynecology specialist, was the lone no vote in the majority caucus.
Delegates also passed House Bill 4005 banning the sale or collection of fetal body parts within the state under certain conditions in a 82-15 vote. The bill matches a similar federal prohibition on fetal body part sales across state lines.
HB 4004 would prohibit licensed medical professionals from performing abortions if the gestation period of the fetus is determined to be greater than 15 weeks. Currently, West Virginia has a ban on abortions past 20 weeks.
HB 4004 includes exemptions for medical emergencies or in the instance of severe fetal abnormalities. An unsuccessful amendment offered by delegates Barbara Evans Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, and Lisa Zukoff, D-Marshall, would have offered additional exemptions to the proposed law for instances of rape or incest.
"Today I offer this amendment to protect the girls and women of West Virginia who are impacted negatively by non-consensual rape and incest that committed with force and violence, and traumatizing the women who are impacted," Zukoff said. "If we pass this bill today, we're taking five weeks of decision-making away from those women and children."
The Zukoff amendment was voted down 21-78, with Brown voting no and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Moore Capito, R-Kanawha, voting yes. Zukoff, a member of the House's Judiciary and House Health and Human Resources committees, had offered the same amendment two previous times when HB 4004 came before those committees, with those amendments rejected each time.
"I think we're asking with this bill to trade one life for another," Zukoff said. "To me, that is just unacceptable."
Delegate Kayla Kessinger, R-Fayette, said she appreciated the intent of Zukoff's amendment, but she believed that instances of rape or incest should not be used as excuses to end a pregnancy.
"Sexual violence against women is something we do not talk about enough in this body and in this country," Kessinger said. "While I appreciate the fact that we're having this conversation, I believe that circumstances surround conception should never determine the value of human life. If we believe that life starts in the womb, then it is our obligation to protect life regardless of the circumstances surrounding conception."
Delegate Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, said he supported the bill. However, he argued it doesn't go far enough, believing that all abortions should be banned with no exceptions.
"If it was up to me, we would ban it outright, but that is not the bill before us," Burkhammer said. "We're taking steps in a positive direction, but for those who think this bill goes too far, I would argue it doesn't go far enough."
Delegate Danielle Walker, D-Monongalia, has openly talked about her abortion procedure over the years. She said Republicans were using the power of government to make decisions that should be left between a woman and her doctor.
"Time and time again this state Legislature decides to spend our time and our resources putting more and more restrictions on abortion care," Walker said. "With the amount of restrictions on this care that already exist, we have already made this service difficult access."
If passed by the Senate and signed into law, West Virginia's 15-week abortion ban would mirror a similar law in Mississippi. That law was challenged in federal court with the U.S. Supreme Court hearing arguments in the case last year. Florida and Arizona are also considering similar bills. Opponents of abortion believe a majority of the Supreme Court could use the Mississippi case to throw out Roe v. Wade, the 1972 decision that legalized abortion.
Both HB 4004 and HB 4005 head to the Senate for further consideration. Speaking after Tuesday's floor vote, Margaret Chapman Pomponio, the executive director for women's reproductive rights group WV FREE, said she hopes the bill can still be stopped or changed in the Senate.
"The West Virginia House essentially eviscerated Roe versus Wade today," Pomponio said. "It's outrageous and the people of West Virginia need to wake up and stop this from happening in the Senate."