Abortion

West Virginia has had a law on the books banning abortion since before it became a state. The original code was enacted in 1849. Last night, state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey issued an opinion on the status of that law.

The ACLU filed a lawsuit in Kanawha County Circuit Court Wednesday challenging the state’s 1882 ban on abortion.

Vigils and protests across the state were mobilized by organizations like Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union following Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization returns decision-making power on abortions to the states. But it's unclear what that means in West Virginia.

West Virginia’s elected officials and community leaders are reacting to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

On this West Virginia Morning, we talk with W. Franklin Evans, president of West Liberty University (WLU). WLU’s Board of Governors voted last fall to publicly censure Evans after he was accused by the faculty senate for plagiarizing sections of his speeches since taking office in January 2021. Recently, a survey of the school’s faculty was conducted, gauging their level of support for Evans since the censure.

West Virginians on both sides of the abortion debate are reacting to the leaked document.

On this West Virginia Morning, the black bear is West Virginia’s state mammal and lucky visitors can occasionally see them in the woods, but spring is also a time when they are out and hungry. We meet a photographer who has encountered several bears over the years in his career.

The “Unborn Child with Down Syndrome Protection and Education Act” would prohibit patients from terminating a pregnancy based on the possibility that the fetus may develop a disability. Justice signed the bill Monday and the law will go into effect June 10 of this year.

Senate Bill 468 passed. It will prevent women from ending a pregnancy if they believe the fetus would develop a disability.