CHARLESTON – West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's office has issued a legal memorandum regarding the state’s 1840s-based abortion law, saying it is enforceable.
But, Morrisey also said the Legislature needs to do more to create a more thorough policy regarding the matter.
“This memorandum should provide additional clarity on the issue of the regulation of abortion in West Virginia,” Morrisey said in releasing the order June 29, just hours after he and Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Charles Miller were named in defendants in a lawsuit about the viability of the law written in 1849. “It’s now time to protect as many innocent lives as humanly and legally possible.”
In the review, Morrisey’s office said he “stands ready to defend these statutes to their fullest extent. But courts may apply them in unexpected ways.”
“For that reason, the Legislature is advised to re-enact a comprehensive framework governing abortions to avoid any potential variances among prohibitions, definitions, scope, exceptions, or otherwise,” the memo states.
It also listed some considerations that need to be addressed by lawmakers. They include:
* whether to enforce the state’s abortion law criminally or to enact more civil enforcement measures that could involve medical licensing instead of jail time.
* whether to impose penalties on the provider, the woman or both.
* whether county prosecutors or state officials would enforce the law.
* any possible exceptions, such as rape and incest.
* how to handle abortion drugs that available in the mail or by in-person prescription.
“Any state abortion restriction must include an exception for abortions performed to save the pregnant woman’s life,” the memo also stated.
“We stand ready to defend the present suit against the 1849 abortion statute and take action upon a request from the Governor to petition the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia to lift the current injunction against West Virginia’s partial-birth abortion law.
“We stand ready, too, to defend any of the other existing laws on the books. We will continue to provide counsel in response to this landmark decision and changing legal landscape, as well as to update the Legislature and Governor about ongoing developments in the courts.”
In a June 30 press briefing, Gov. Jim Justice said he soon will call a special session to clarify the state’s laws on abortion.
“I agree wholeheartedly that we need to move faster and we need to move for further and more detailed clarification,” Justice said. “I’m telling everyone that I will call a special session, and I will call it very, very, very soon.
“I am asking our legislators to all get their stuff in order, get their stuff in order as to what ways they want to go, and absolutely I’m asking their leadership to guide and direct them in every way.”
