By Dave Andrusko

Senator Karnes, one of West Virginians for Life’s heroes, spoke on the floor of the Senate in support of HB 2568.
It is not entirely clear if he has, but should West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin receive The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act today, he will have until next Wednesday to decide whether to veto the bill.
Last year Tomblin vetoed a similar measure. But unlike last session, there will be time enough left in this session for the legislature to override a veto.
According to West Virginians for Life (WVFL), Tomblin has sent signals he will veto the bill which would generally protect the lives of pain-capable unborn children from being killed by abortion. If it becomes law, the bill would protect unborn children from 20 weeks fetal age, based on legislative findings that there is compelling evidence that an unborn child by that point (if not earlier) is capable of experiencing excruciating pain during the process of dismemberment or other abortion procedures.
The state House of Delegates passed the bill 88-12 on February 11, which included the support of two-thirds of the House Democrats. This week, by a vote of 29-5, the West Virginia state Senate gave its final approval.
The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act has passed in ten states. It is being challenged in court in two states but is in effect in the other eight.
“West Virginians can be proud of their legislative representatives for the hard work they put into the effort to protect unborn children from the terrible pain of abortion,” said John Carey, Lobbying Coordinator for WVFL. “They truly represent the pro-life values of the state.”
Carey added, “It is up to the Governor to decide whether or not to veto a bill that has passed with such large bi-partisan majorities.”
Not surprisingly, Planned Parenthood called on Tomblin to again veto the bill. In her impeccably inaccurate way, Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement, “The politicians pushing this cruel measure are on the wrong side of public health, the wrong side of public opinion, and the wrong side of history.”
Well, besides the obvious point that the bill is not on the wrong side of public opinion in West Virginia, it is also true that there is widespread national support for just such a measure.
In a nationwide poll of 1,623 registered voters in November 2014, The Quinnipiac University Poll found that 60% would support a law such as the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act prohibiting abortion after 20 weeks, while only 33% opposed such legislation. Women voters split 59-35% in support of such a law, while independent voters supported it by 56-36%.
What about younger people? Among those ages 18-29, there was 57% support for the legislation, with only 38% opposed.
As for history, Richards insists that we can no more successfully oppose the indiscriminate slaughter of children capable of unimaginable pain as they are being torn to shreds than forbid the tides from rolling in.
Just guessing here, but as the public gets more and more educated on what unborn babies go through, I’m thinking the less and less likely it is that the Cecile Richardses of this world will continue to talk about history’s inevitability.