West Virginia passes 'fetal pain' law

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On Friday, state senators overrode Gov Earl Ray Tomblin's veto of the measure -- which restricts most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy -- making West Virginia the fifteenth state with such laws on the books.

The measure is the latest "fetal pain" law to be passed by a state. Based on the idea that a fetus can feel pain halfway through a pregnancy, these laws have been among the most successful strategies employed by anti-abortion activists in recent years.

For some time abortion opponents had been eyeing West Virginia as ripe for passing such a law, but ran up against some roadblocks last year when Tomblin vetoed it and the Democrat-led legislature didn't call a special session to override the veto.

But when Republicans seized control of both chambers in November, activists saw the door open again. Tomblin vetoed the measure — saying he has constitutional concerns with it — but first the House and then the Senate, on Friday, overwhelmingly overrode his veto.

The measures have irked abortion rights activists, who highlight the potential for requiring a woman to carry to full term a fetus with a severe anomaly, even if she's told by a doctor the fetus won't survive past birth.

West Virginia's ban includes an exemption for severe fetal anomaly, but most of the other state bans don't. All of them include exemptions for the life of the mother and a few also include exemptions in the case of rape or incest.

"Governor Tomblin was right to veto this callous, cruel, and unconstitutional attack on health care for women facing complicated and sometimes dangerous situations in their lives and pregnancies," said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights.

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