The West Virginia Legislature's push to ban the most common second-trimester abortion procedure drew strong praise from anti-abortion activists Monday, while abortion rights supporters said the bill would put women's lives in danger and block doctors from doing their jobs.
“This bill is a mess,” said Lynn Clarke, a Charleston lawyer. “It is badly written and, clearly, unconstitutional.”
Abortion opponents described the dilation and evacuation procedure — considered the safest method to terminate a pregnancy after 13 weeks — as “barbaric” and “gruesome.”
“We have laws that protect dogs and cats,” said George Wallace, who heads the Cabell County chapter of West Virginians for Life. “We have humans here that are being butchered.”
Last week, the West Virginia Senate overwhelming passed legislation (SB 10) that outlaws so-called “dismemberment abortions.” The House Health Committee held a public hearing Monday to take comments about the bill before voting on it.
The legislation is expected to sail through the House.
“I think it's actually a very good bill,” said the Rev. Brian O'Donnell, executive secretary of the Catholic Conference of West Virginia. “It really expresses what's in the hearts and minds of the vast majority of West Virginians.”
Other clergy members who spoke at Monday's hearing at the state Capitol had a decidedly different opinion of the abortion restriction bill.
“It's inappropriate to apply the shocking term 'dismemberment' to the safe and sometimes medically necessary procedure known as dilation and evacuation,” said the Rev. Rose Eddington, a Unitarian Universalist minister. “Legislation restricting choice uses religion to exert power over women. Don't legislate your religious teaching onto the rest of us.”
Lawmakers have modeled their abortion ban bill on similar laws in Oklahoma and Kansas. Courts have blocked those laws from taking effect in those states.
Abortion rights activists said the ban would force doctors to abandon accepted medical standards for terminating a pregnancy in the second trimester.
“It's based on the premise that doctors don't know or don't care what's best for their patients,” said Margaret Chapman Pomponio, executive director of West Virginia Free.
Abortion opponents noted that the bill still allows the dilation and evacuation procedure, provided doctors first cause the “demise or death” of the fetus.
“This law provides protection only when dismemberment is provided to a living, unborn child,” said Karen Cross, political director for the National Right to Life Committee.
But opponents of the bill called it “legislative interference at its worst.”
“In many cases, these procedures are medically necessary due to severe fetal anomalies or to protect a woman's future fertility,” said Frank Hartman, a lobbyist representing the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “It is critical doctors be able to provide the best care possible to their patients without interference.”
The abortion procedure that West Virginia lawmakers seek to ban was spotlighted in undercover videos that targeted Planned Parenthood last year.
The videos, which purport to show Planned Parenthood executives discussing the illegal sale of body parts, sparked outrage among anti-abortion activists. Planned Parenthood officials said the videos were misleadingly edited, and two anti-abortion activists behind the video have been indicted by a grand jury in Texas on charges of tampering with governmental records.
The legislation bans doctors from using forceps, clamps, scissors or similar instruments on a live fetus to remove it from the womb in pieces. Doctors use the dilation and evacuation procedure in about 95 percent of second-trimester abortions nationally.
No doctors spoke at Monday's public hearing.
Reach Eric Eyre at ericeyre@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4869 or follow @ericeyre on Twitter.