They may share a common border, but in terms of protecting the most vulnerable, West Virginia is a world away from Virginia when it comes to the subject of infanticide.
West Virginia’s Governor Jim Justice, elected as a Democrat but who later switched to the Republican Party, called his signing of the West Virginia Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act a “no-brainer” this week, after both houses of the state legislature passed the bill nearly unanimously.
“I’ve said for a long time, even back before I took office as Governor, that I would support measures like this because every human life – born or unborn – is precious and truly a gift from God,” Justice said in a press release.
Contrast West Virginia’s governor with Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. A year ago, Northam shocked the nation by seemingly approving of infanticide during a radio interview about a hypothetical abortion moments before delivery resulting in the live birth of an infant with a disability. Northam replied to the question this way:
“If the mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” he said. “The infant (with severe disabilities) would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if this is what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physician and the mother.”
Buoyed by last year’s elections that turned the state into a Democratic trifecta, Virginia’s legislature as well as its infanticide-approving governor are full-steam ahead on creating the most pro-abortion state in the union.
West Virginia, on the other hand, became a Republican trifecta when Gov. Justice switched parties, but its legislature is not overwhelmingly Republican. The Senate has 19 Republicans and 14 Democrats. The House of Delegates has 58 Republicans and 41 Democrats and 1 Independent. Yet the “Born Alive” bill passed unanimously in the state Senate and 92-6 in the House of Delegates.
That type of bipartisanship on the issue of providing healthcare to infants born alive after an attempted abortion should be, as the governor mentioned, a “no-brainer.” Kudos to West Virginia for showing the rest of the nation how our common humanity and compassion for the most vulnerable ought to play out on the political stage.
