West Virginia governor signs strict abortion ban with few exceptions into law

West Virginia
Gov. Jim Justice signed a invoice into legislation on Friday prohibiting practically all abortions with restricted exemptions.

The invoice, which cleared the legislature Thursday, permits exceptions for circumstances of rape or incest as much as eight weeks of being pregnant for adults and 14 weeks for minors, a nonmedically viable fetus, an ectopic being pregnant, or a medical emergency.

“I mentioned from the start that if WV legislators introduced me a invoice that protected life and included affordable and logical exceptions I’d signal it, and that is what I did at this time,” Justice wrote on Twitter.

In circumstances of rape or incest, an individual would want to report the incident to legislation enforcement at the very least 48 hours previous to receiving an
abortion
. Beneath the legislation, all abortion procedures have to be carried out in a hospital. If somebody who shouldn’t be a licensed medical skilled performs the process, they may very well be charged with a felony and topic to as much as 10 years in jail.

The legislation will go into impact instantly, although felony penalties the invoice carries is not going to be in place for an additional 90 days.

West Virginia is the most recent to cross an abortion legislation, becoming a member of a rising variety of states which have applied restrictive abortion laws for the reason that Supreme Courtroom overturned Roe v. Wade.

High lawmakers and politicians in West Virginia have appeared disjointed on abortion in latest months. Justice, who was first elected governor as a Democrat earlier than switching to the Republican Social gathering in 2017, has maintained that he helps the brand new legislation as a result of it supplies logical exemptions. West Virginia Sen.
Joe Manchin (D-WV)
lengthy positioned himself as an anti-abortion Democrat however mentioned after the Supreme Courtroom determination that he would vote to codify Roe in legislation. In Could, he voted towards Democratic abortion laws
that went additional
than Roe in guaranteeing entry to abortion.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), who as a member of the Home of Representatives was considered one of only some Republicans to favor abortion rights, has embraced states proscribing the process.