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Election 2018: Two amendments on West Virginia ballot

PARKERSBURG — Two West Virginia constitutional amendments are going before voters in the general election.

A majority is required for ratification.

Amendment No. 1 is the proposed “No Constitutional Right to Abortion Amendment.”

A “yes” vote adds Section 57 to Article VI in the West Virginia Constitution. It would state “Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of abortion.”

A “no” vote opposes the amendment and adding of the language to the Constitution.

Amendment 1, should it be approved in the election, would reverse the 1993 Panepinto decision by the state Supreme Court, which said the state Constitution includes a right for poor women to receive an abortion that is financed through the government, Sen. Charles Trump, R-Berkeley, said. The decision overturned Chapter 9 Section 2-11 of the state code, he said.

Upon reversal of the Panepinto decision, law will revert to Chapter 9 Section 2-11, Trump said.

The chapter allows for Medicaid funds to be used on abortions under limited exceptions: a medical emergency that so complicates a pregnancy as to necessitate an immediate abortion to avert the death of the mother or for which a delay will create grave peril of irreversible loss of major bodily function or an equivalent injury to the mother: Provided, That an independent physician concurs with the physician’s clinical judgment; clear clinical medical evidence that the fetus has severe congenital defects or terminal disease or is not expected to be delivered; the individual is a victim of incest or the individual is a victim of rape when the rape is reported to a law-enforcement agency.

If Roe v. Wade is ever overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the authority to regulate abortions returns to the states, Trump said.

West Virginia Free, which advocates for reproductive health rights for women, said the amendment is “an unprecedented attack on women’s rights. The amendment bans the right to abortion in the state Constitution while “opening the door to take away Medicaid funding for abortion for poor people.”

If Roe v Wade is overturned, “draconian language in our own state code would totally criminalize all abortion,” the organization said.

Wood County Indivisible will hold a forum on Amendment 1 from 6:30-8 p.m. Wednesday in the executive conference room in the Parkersburg Municipal Building.

“A group of us were talking about all of the misinformation we’ve read and heard about from fellow voters,” Jennifer Bryant of Wood County Indivisible said. “People are confused and need to have their questions and concerns addressed so that they can feel comfortable making an informed choice when they go to the polls.”

Panelists include: local attorney Walt Auvil to discuss the legal aspects of Amendment 1; health care professional Angy Nixon, APRN, CNM, FACNM; Sue Elle Waybright, a local citizen and economic equality advocate who will discuss the history and personal experience of women’s reproductive freedom.

This amendment would become a problem for West Virginia, should Roe v. Wade is overturned, the release from Wood County Indivisible said.

If Amendment 1 passes, West Virginia women could find themselves choosing between life and death or jail and freedom, the release said.

The Legislature debated adding language to the amendment that would protect women and girls who are victims of rape or incest, or those who have health complications that could end their lives, the release said. The motion to add exceptions to the Amendment failed in the state Senate.

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Amendment No. 2 is the Judicial Budget Oversight Amendment. This amendment, if passed, gives the Legislature oversight of the West Virginia Supreme Court’s judiciary’s budget. The amendment proposal came as a response to the West Virginia Supreme Court’s spending. The spending involved what termed as “extravagant” renovations to the private chambers of the court’s justices.

A “yes” vote supports amending the state constitution to authorize the legislature to reduce the budget of the state judiciary by up to 15 percent. Amendment 2 would also require the chief justice to answer questions before the legislature about the state judiciary budget if so requested by either legislative chamber. The chief justice would also be able to appear at hearings voluntarily.

A “no” vote opposes amending the state constitution to authorize the legislature to reduce the budget of the state judiciary, thereby keeping the provisions preventing the legislature from altering the budget of the state judiciary.

As the state Constitution reads now, the Supreme Court is responsible for its own budget. Because the Supreme Court’s power over its own budget is in the Constitution, the constitutional amendment is required for change.

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