By Charles Boothe, Bluefield Daily Telegraph
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A bill that would limit abortions to 15 weeks in West Virginia was still in committee in the Senate Wednesday as the last day of this session looms.
Legislators have until Saturday to pass bills, which require three readings.
House Bill 4004 passed the House on Feb. 15 and was sent to the Senate, but remained in the Health and Human Services Committee as of Wednesday evening without being sent to the Senate floor for first reading.
The bill mirrors legislation passed in Mississippi and that case is now pending at the U.S. Supreme Court after the state was sued claiming it is a violation of the federal law, Roe v. Wade. That law allows abortions up to viability (can live outside mother), which is about 24 weeks.
Roe vs. Wade has been in effect since 1973 and has previously been upheld in various cases. But during arguments in the Mississippi case last month some members of the conservative leaning court indicated at least a change in giving states more leeway or possibly ending Roe vs. Wade all together and leaving it up to the states to decide…
