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UPDATE - â Despite Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's veto, West Virginia lawmakers have made into law a ban on abortion 20 weeks after conception.
Senators voted 27-5 to override Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's veto and make the ban official.
Tomblin is again saying that it's unconstitutional.
Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has pledged to defend the ban in court if it is challenged.
It's the first veto override in the state Legislature since 1987.
WV women's rights groups widely opposed the measure, saying politicians are inserting themselves in the most private and personal medical decisions best left up to a woman, her faith, her family, and her doctor.
UPDATE - Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has again vetoed a bill banning abortion 20 weeks after conception, citing constitutional concerns.
WV lawmakers only need a simple majority to overturn vetoes.
Tomblin nixed the bill Tuesday, saying he urged lawmakers to find a compromise. He said the bill is substantially similar to what he vetoed last year.
The Republican Legislature passed it overwhelmingly this year, and it passed easily last year under Democrats.
The bill does not provide exceptions for rape and incest.
Proponents of the bill have cited religious and moral grounds, while opponents say it's unconstitutional and intrusive into doctor-patient relationships.
The WV abortion bills resemble a law struck down in Arizona in 2013 that the U.S. Supreme Court later decided not to reconsider.
Republicans on Capitol Hill were forced to drop legislation that would have outlawed abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy in all 50 states.
But similar legislation is advancing in state capitols around the country this year, 10 states already ban abortions at 20 weeks and others are defending such laws in court.
WV FREE says politicians are inserting themselves in the most private and personal medical decisions best left up to a woman, her faith, her family, and her doctor.
Nearly 99 percent of abortions occur before 21 weeks, but when they do happen, it's often in very complex circumstances, says WV FREE.
The majority of polled voters â Democrats (78%), Republicans (62%), and Independents (71%) â say this is the wrong issue for Congress and state legislators to be spending time on.
The bill criminalizes physicians for not following the law.
ORIGINAL STORY - State lawmakers are pushing an abortion ban after 20 weeks gestation in West Virginia, despite last year's veto by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin.
In a House of Delegates public hearing Thursday, opponents called the proposal likely unconstitutional and intrusive into doctor-patient relationships.
Delegates cited religious and moral grounds for the 20-week limit for abortion, a bill that has passed in Reoublican controlled states.
Legislators cited moral and religious grounds.
The anti-abortion members of the West Virginia Legislature trying to pass a 20-week-abortion ban and restrictions on insurance coverage of abortions are actually part of a well-oiled, nationwide political machine aiming to chip away at, and finally dismantle Roe v. Wade, according to Sharona Coutts, lawyer and vice president of the nonprofit RH Reality Check.
"I'm talking about forced pregnancy, and for a bunch of people who claim to care so much about liberty, who claim to really reject invasion from the state into a person's life, it is an outrage to me that what they are essentially creating is a system where you have state-imposed forced pregnancies," said Coutts.
Abortion opponents say it is against God and the creation of human life, that human life starts at conception.
Rape is not included as an exception in the bill for getting an abortion.
The bill bans abortions after 20 weeks, except for expectant women in medical emergencies.
West Virginia is leading the nation with teen pregnancy, mostly unmarried teens.
The Democratic-run Legislature passed a similar proposal overwhelmingly last year, but Gov. Tomblin vetoed it saying the bill was legally flawed.
The bills resemble a law struck down in Arizona in 2013 that the U.S. Supreme Court later decided not to reconsider.
Tomblin says he'd veto the bill again if it's the same.
Lawmakers need a simple majority to overturn policy bill vetoes, and the bill is likely to pass.
See WV LEADING NATION IN TEEN CHILDBIRTHS - Calhoun-Clay Among Highest In State, Kids Count: 36% Calhoun Children In Poverty, High Rate Abuse/Neglect
CALHOUN RANKS 40TH IN KIDS COUNT CHILDREN'S WELL BEING - Calhoun Worst With Unmarried Teen Pregnancy
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