While West Virginia voters approved an anti-abortion amendment to the state Constitution more than five years ago, a group of Democratic lawmakers believe voters would now support an amendment to reinstate abortion rights.
Del. Kayla Young, who represents Kanawha County, along with seven other Democratic lawmakers in the overwhelmingly Republican state Legislature, introduced legislation that would ask voters to decide whether a person has the right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” including decisions related to contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care and abortion.
In a 2018 ballot measure decided by fewer than 20,000 votes, West Virginians approved an amendment to the state Constitution that stated: “Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of abortion.”
Since that vote, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and West Virginia lawmakers passed a near-total abortion ban. That puts another vote in a new context, according to Young.
“It’s different because we were living in a world where Roe was precedent and most West Virginians thought it to be settled law,” Young said.
West Virginia’s abortion ban does allow the procedure in rare circumstances, including medical emergencies and if the pregnancy was due to a reported rape. But the effect has been clear.
In 2021, there were more than 1,000 abortions in West Virginia. Then, lawmakers banned abortion and in the first half of 2023, there were just eight, according to state data.
Katie Quinoñez-Alonzo, executive director of the Women’s Health Center, which previously provided abortions in Charleston, noted that abortion rights ballot measures have been successful in other states since Roe was overturned.
“Support for abortion access has never been higher,” she said in an email. “People are deeply troubled that politicians have callously taken away access to safe and routine reproductive health care, and I think it’s likely that given the opportunity, they would vote in favor of passing an affirmative constitutional amendment.”
Quinoñez-Alonzo also noted that in 2018, some abortion opponents drummed up support for that amendment by arguing they “should not have to pay for anyone’s abortion.” At the time, supporters of the amendment pointed out that it would undo a 1993 state Supreme Court decision that required Medicaid to cover abortions.
“It was a talking point that served them well, and Amendment 1 successfully stripped low-income West Virginians of health care access,” she said. “But the real purpose behind Amendment 1 was to set the stage in hopes that Roe would be overturned so West Virginia politicians could gut abortion access for their constituents.”
Young also said some people might have voted for the amendment to remove Medicaid funding for abortion but didn’t want to ban it entirely.
A poll of 600 West Virginia voters, released by the state Chamber of Commerce following the repeal of Roe but before the state’s abortion ban found that 51% characterized themselves as “pro life,” while 45% said they are “pro choice,” but opinions varied widely on specific questions like when an abortion should be legal.
The Chamber’s vice president for policy and advocacy, Brian Dayton, told MetroNews at the time that voters were “very mixed” and “the stakes are a little bit higher now.”
But Wanda Franz, president of West Virginians for Life, said she believes West Virginians have made their overall views on abortion clear and that the 2018 amendment was written clearly and understandably.
“I think that it’s unlikely that people would vote differently this time,” she said. “I think that it’s clear that West Virginia folks are pro-life.”
Following its introduction, the proposed legislation was referred to the House Health and Human Resources Committee. But Del. Amy Summers, R-Taylor, the committee’s chair, said through a spokesperson that she doesn’t typically put resolutions — like the abortion ballot measure — on the agenda.
Young said that while she realizes passage is unlikely, “it’s definitely not going to be given the time of day if somebody doesn’t introduce it and work on it and try to get it in front of people.”