Category Archives: Statewide WVFL News
VIDEO: WV Gov. Jim Justice signs ‘The Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act’ (HB 4007) on 3/2/2020
West Virginians For Life introduced and backed this legislation. We’re thrilled it’s now law, and that WV is yet again making nationwide news with pro-life leadership. Join us: wvforlife.org/membership — Better yet, step up to Rose Society Membership while you’re there! — Already a member? Give here: wvforlife.org/donate
Note: It’s newsworthy that our WV legislators succeeded in bipartisan passage of the very thing federal lawmakers can’t even bring to the floor: actionable protection for babies who survive abortionists’ best efforts to kill them. The Mountain State’s leadership continues to be noticed, and we’re genuinely influencing other states with pro-life values. We’ve got to keep a pro-life President in office and a pro-life majority in the Senate, to keep getting better judges & justices on the bench at all levels. Your pro-life support and vote are needed now more than ever.
WV makes nationwide news again with pro-life leadership
The Christian Post’s national headline reads: “W.Va. governor signs law requiring doctors to help babies born alive after abortion.” It’s newsworthy that our WV legislators succeeded in bipartisan passage of the very thing federal lawmakers can’t even bring to the floor: actionable protection for babies who survive abortionists’ best efforts to kill them. The Mountain State’s leadership continues to be noticed, and we’re genuinely influencing other states with pro-life values.
One of my WV friends responded with, “This is good, but how about we outlaw abortion…period!” That’s definitely the goal. Legal challenges are certain, however, and they would wind up at the U.S. Supreme Court’s door. So long as we lack a majority of justices willing to overturn Roe, each opportunity that SCOTUS turns away from tends to actually make it worse (for example, consider the new “undue burden” standard crafted by the 1992 Casey ruling). Even just last summer the high court overturned dismemberment abortion ban laws such as ours—a WVFL victory, passed in 2016, now wrongfully deemed unconstitutional and unenforceable.
Overturning the bad precedents of Roe is doable, but it will require a willing court. Sadly, indications are it’s not there yet, but we’re making headway. We’ve got to keep a pro-life President in office and a pro-life majority in the Senate, to keep getting better judges & justices on the bench at all levels. Your pro-life support and vote are needed now more than ever.
Click here to read the C.P. article.
Join us: wvforlife.org/membership
Better yet, step up to Rose Society Membership while you’re there!
Already a member? Give here: wvforlife.org/donate
Babies Born Alive After Abortion Can be Left to Die in 16 States
Excerpts:
Family Research Council today released a first-of-its-kind set of maps showing the strength of born-alive abortion survivor protection laws and the legal status of late term abortion in every state. Protections for born-alive abortion survivors became a national conversation when New York and Illinois walked back their protections earlier this year, removing existing protections for infants born alive during failed abortion attempts.
According to research conducted by Family Research Council, only fifteen states provide strong protections for born-alive abortion survivors, and only eight require reporting on infants who survive abortion. The maps also show which states have no laws protecting born-alive abortion survivors, which states allow abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, and some surprising differences between those lists.
Sixteen states have no laws protecting born-alive abortion survivors: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia.
Twenty-two states allow abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, either directly or indirectly: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.
Quena González, Director of State and Local Affairs at Family Research Council, said this was a direct result of what he called the “wave election” of 2010:
“The 2010 election cycle saw a record number of state-level Republicans elected. Many of them were pro-life, and as their majorities in legislatures and statehouses across the country continued to increase throughout the Obama administration, they enacted pro-life laws at a record pace.
West Virginians For Life is proposing new state legislation for the upcoming session that would outlaw leaving a baby to die after he or she survives an abortion.
SIGN THE WVFL PETITION: Stop Infanticide!
URGENT! Call Senator Joe Manchin!
Senator Manchin is being flooded with phone calls from Planned Parenthood supporters telling him to oppose defunding Planned Parenthood facilities. Planned Parenthood is THE largest abortion provider in the country. The number of abortions performed in 2017 by PP was 332,757, which is over a third of the yearly total. Their other health care services have been steadily going down, while the number of abortions keeps going up revealing Planned Parenthood’s true profit motive.
According to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund site, Manchin is viewed as “a key senator and potential bridge between political parties.”
Pro-life voices must also be heard by Senator Manchin. The WV Primary Care Association website says, “West Virginia’s 31 Community Health Center (CHC) Organizations…in more than 360+ locations in the state…provide integrated comprehensive care to more than 450,000 patients.” What do West Virginians need a Planned Parenthood for when there are plenty of CHCs and they don’t perform abortions?
ACTION NEEDED!
When you call Senator Manchin at 202-224-3954, say some version of this:
“I’m calling to ask Sen. Manchin to support defunding Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the US. Over 450,000 West Virginians get their health care at Community Health Centers (CHCs) in WV. The CHCs don’t perform abortions. Pro-lifers would prefer to visit the CHCs rather than abortion-minded Planned Parenthood.”
(This post first appeared on the WV For Life statewide website, see link below.)
WVFL Calls Out Poll Bias
West Virginians for Life today released a response to the WV Free press release which made claims that WVFL finds hard to believe. In the words of WVFL President Dr. Wanda Franz, “Given their history of misrepresenting the issue of abortion, it is difficult to take the results of the WV Free poll seriously without seeing the details of the questions asked plus the size and diversity of those sampled.”
Read the WVFL press release in its entirety here.
WVFL Annual State Convention 2019
Click below for all the details:
VIDEO: Recent State Pro-Life Laws – James Bopp, Jr. J.D. at NRLC Convention 2019
VIDEO from “Recent State Pro-Life Laws-Idealist or Pragmatic: Pursuing an Effective Legal Strategy to Protect the Unborn and Overturn Roe v. Wade”- Taken from a workshop given at the National Right to Life Convention in Charleston, South Carolina on July 6th, 2019.
21st Annual Rose Dinner
21st Annual Rose Dinner
April 4 @ 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm
The 21st Annual Rose Dinner on Thursday, April 4, 2019 at the Holiday Inn in Morgantown, WV will feature Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Executive Director Alex Schadenberg.
• Silent Auction, starts at 6:00 p.m. All the monies will go to the Educational Trust Fund
• Reception followed by dinner at 7:00 p.m.
Come and listen to the latest in the fight against doctor prescribed suicide. Could we be fighting this battle in West Virginia? The life you save could be your own. Schadenberg’s highly acclaimed film Fatal Flaws will be shown the following evening at a local church.
Buy tickets/donate online
Click here for flyer or Click here for flyer with registration coupon
FATAL FLAWS TO BE SHOWN THE NEXT EVENING
An added bonus this year is the showing of the 80 minute documentary Fatal Flaws on Friday, April 5. Schadenberg is co-Executive Producer of the movie. It will be shown in its entirety at Covenant Evangelical Methodist Church, 802 Green Bag Road, Morgantown at 6:30 p.m. No admission will be charged, but a freewill offering will be collected to be split between Schadenberg and West Virginians for Life. Because of limited seating, please let WVFL know if you plan to attend the showing of Fatal Flaws by either emailing info@wvforlife.org or calling 304-594-9845.
Letter to the Editor – Vote YES on Amendment 1
The following Letter to the Editor was submitted to, and accepted by, the Charleston Daily Mail. The editor responded saying they will publish the letter, and even better, that the paper will endorse a “YES” on Amendment 1, using the letter’s explanation as to why. The author, Mary Tillman, serves on the state board of West Virginians for Life and is an officer in the WV For Life – Harrison County Chapter. For more information and helpful resources, visit http://yeson1wv.com.
October 5, 2018
Letters to the Editor have been appearing in newspapers around the State, making extreme claims about what the effect of Amendment 1 will be if passed.
It’s time to get the facts. The most common claim is that Amendment 1 will “make abortion illegal in West Virginia.” FALSE. Abortion is legal in West Virginia NOT because of our state Constitution, but because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision (Roe v. Wade, 1973) that decided there was a so-called “right” to abortion under the Federal, or U.S. Constitution. We cannot change that by amending our state Constitution.
Secondly, the claim is made that “women will die” if Amendment 1 passes, because (they say) there are “no exceptions for rape, incest or to save the life of the woman.” FALSE. It is true that the language in the Amendment itself does not spell out those particular exceptions, but if passed, a previous WV law, still on the books, will come back into force. That law, found at WV Code Section 9-2-11, allows for taxpayer funding of abortions in cases of medical emergency, reported rape and incest, fetal anomaly, and threats to the life of the mother.
Finally, the claim is made that the “state has no business in the exam room or the bedroom.” To that I would say, the state then has no business in my wallet to pay for something that I, and millions of others in this country, believe is the taking of innocent human life. The U.S. Supreme Court itself decided in Harris v. McRae (1980) that states are not required to pay for abortions using tax dollars, and only 17 states in the United States still do so. Let’s join the majority of the country and get out of the business of paying for elective abortions. Vote “YES” on Amendment 1.
Mary H. Tillman, J.D.
Lost Creek, WV