West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed the “Unborn Child With Down Syndrome Protection and Education Act” into law on Monday.
The law goes into effect on June 10. You can look at all the pictures from the bill signing on Justice’s Flickr account.
The law has down syndrome in its name, but it covers all disabilities:
“Because of a disability” means on account of the presence or presumed presence of a disability or diagnosis in a fetus including, but not limited to, chromosomal disorders or morphological malformations occurring as the result of atypical gene expressions.
A medical professional can bypass the law if there is “a medical emergency or a nonmedically viable fetus.”
The doctor faces punishment if he or she performs an abortion knowing the woman chose the abortion because of a possible disability.
The mother will not face any punishment.
Justice signed the law on World Down Syndrome Day. He said abortions based on disabilities “just seems terribly discriminatory in my book.”
There is not much evidence out there, but data tells us “that 67% of U.S. pregnancies where it is suggested the baby would be born with Down syndrome end in abortion.”
In 2008, a woman I know got a call that her child’s Down Syndrome test came back positive. But after the doctor looked at her chart again he realized it included two due dates: the one based on her last period and the true one based on the six-week ultrasound.
The lab went with the first due date, which was about two weeks from the true due date.
Thankfully she did not rush out and have an abortion. Instead, she and her husband started to make plans for life with a disabled child. Yes, I have permission to speak about this because she wants people to understand that blood tests aren’t always true.
She didn’t even have the blood test with her second child because it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.
Pro-life groups celebrated the new law:
The pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List applauded the signing and its president Marjorie Dannenfelser told Lifenews: “West Virginia takes a bold step forward today in the fight against eugenic discrimination in America. Research shows 99% of people with Down syndrome lead happy lives, yet instead of being cherished and included, far too often they are targeted for destruction in the womb where they are most vulnerable. We are proud to stand with West Virginians, the community of self-advocates and their loved ones calling on our nation to ‘embrace, not erase’ Down syndrome.”“We are grateful for Governor Justice’s swift action and for all our local pro-life allies, especially our National Pro-Life Caucus members Del. Kayla Kessinger and Sen. Patricia Rucker, who worked tirelessly up to the final minutes of the session to get these vital protections enacted in the law. As we await a decision in the landmark Dobbs case, we hope the people of every state will soon have the chance to modernize our laws.”
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