“I play varsity volleyball and run 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 I’m an object and does unspeakable, tragic things to me, am I a child, am I supposed to carry and give birth to another child?” “Should I put my body through the physical trauma of pregnancy? To suffer the mental consequences, a child who had no say in what was done to 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 medical emergency pregnancies, ectopic pregnancies or fetuses deemed medically non-viable. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade ruling and a West Virginia court ruling temporarily suspending the state’s 1800 abortion laws, Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, asked lawmakers to modernize and clarify restrictions on abortion. “Since 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,” said Mr. Justice. one statement on Monday. “As I have said many times, I am proudly pro-life and believe that every human life is a miracle that deserves to be protected.” At Wednesday’s hearing, scores of activists, health professionals and concerned citizens spoke out against the bill, with some cheering as they spent their speaking time. Lawmakers voted to amend the bill to add exemptions for rape and incest victims. House lawmakers finally approved the bill 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’s ringing in my ears is not the noise of the people here,” Republican Brandon Steele, a sponsor of HB 302, told The Associated Press. “It’s the cries of the unborn, tens of thousands of unborn children who are dead today. … Their blood is screaming from the ground today that you are ending this scar on our state, that you are removing this curse from this land that a court of law placed upon us so long ago.” Abortion restrictions in the state, where the procedure is currently allowed up to 20 to 22 weeks, were temporarily put on hold by a state court ruling last week. Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Tara Salango issued a temporary injunction against a West Virginia law dating back to the 1800s that made all abortions a felony, finding that later laws and rulings clouded the statute’s legality. The decision allowed the Woman’s Health Center of West Virginia, the state’s only abortion clinic, to temporarily continue operating. “Plaintiffs and their patients, especially those impregnated as a result of rape or incest, are already suffering irreparable harm in the absence of injunctive relief,” Judge Salango said on Monday. “The defendants will suffer no injury from this order which has not been suffered by the previous half century of non-execution of this crime. It is unfair to allow the state of West Virginia to keep conflicting laws on its books.” “It doesn’t matter if you’re pro-choice or pro-life,” he added. “Every citizen in this state has the right to know clearly the laws under which he is expected to live.” State officials challenged the decision and took it to a West Virginia appeals court. Many states controlled by Republicans they tried to impose new restrictions on abortion or blanket bans since Roe was overturned in June.
