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Manchin Stands Strong on Opposition to WHPA
WASHINGTON – Monday (February 28), Senate Democrats, led by Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) failed to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, a controversial bill that would have overridden nearly all existing state pro-life laws, including those in West Virginia.
The bill needed 60 votes in order to move on, yet the motion failed by a vote of 46 to 48. This extremist legislation failed to acquire a majority of U.S. Senators.
West Virginia senator, Joe Manchin, stood up against his party and was the only Democrat to vote against the Women’s Health Protection Act. Sam Runyon, Manchin’s spokesperson, said after the vote “his position has not changed.”
“West Virginians for Life (WVFL) is proud of Senator Manchin for taking this principled position. He helped to establish the protective pro-life legislative accomplishments in the state, and he doesn’t want to see them eliminated by Federal fiat,” said WVFL President Wanda Franz.
If passed, this bill would have codified the right to an abortion even if Roe v. Wade is reversed. When asked about this extreme piece of legislation, Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life (NRLC), said, “This legislation shows just how rigid and uncompromising the Democratic Party has become on abortion.”
Among the protective laws that the bill would have nullified here in West Virginia are:
• Abortion Pill Reversal;
• Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act;
• Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act;
• Women’s Right to Know Act;
• Parent’s Right to Know Act;
• Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act;
• Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act.
The bill passed on September 24, 2021, in the House by a vote of 218 to 211 with all Republicans and one lone Democrat voting against it.