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12-Year-Old Fights West Virginia's Anti-Abortion Bill During Public Hearing
HuffPost via Yahoo NewsCHARLESTON, W.Va. — Ninety people, including a 12-year-old girl, spoke about West Virginia’s restrictive abortion bill during a public hearing Wednesday.
The state legislature is consideringHouse Bill 302, which would ban abortions in almost all cases — with limited exceptions for victims and rape or incest, thanks to the passage of an amendment on Wednesday — and allow for prosecution of physicians who perform abortions.
Gov. Jim Justice (R) asked the legislature to “clarify and modernize” the state’s abortion regulations, after a judge blocked an abortion ban from before Roe v. Wade. (Disclosure: The ACLU of West Virginia brought forward that case, and this reporter’s husband was part of the legal team.)
Speakers at Wednesday’s public hearing were given 45 seconds each. The youngest, a girl who identified herself as 12-year-old Addison Gardner from Buffalo Middle School, gave impassioned remarks against the bill.
“I play for varsity volleyball and I run track. My education is very important to me, and I plan on doing great things in life,” she said. “If a man decides that I’m an object, and does unspeakable, tragic things to me, am I, a child, supposed to carry and birth another child?”
“Am I to put my body through the physical trauma of pregnancy? Am I to suffer the mental implications, a child who had no say in what was being done with my body?” she continued. “Some here say they are pro-life. What about my life? Does my life not matter to you?”
The state legislature is consideringHouse Bill 302, which would ban abortions in almost all cases — with limited exceptions for victims and rape or incest, thanks to the passage of an amendment on Wednesday — and allow for prosecution of physicians who perform abortions.
Gov. Jim Justice (R) asked the legislature to “clarify and modernize” the state’s abortion regulations, after a judge blocked an abortion ban from before Roe v. Wade. (Disclosure: The ACLU of West Virginia brought forward that case, and this reporter’s husband was part of the legal team.)
Speakers at Wednesday’s public hearing were given 45 seconds each. The youngest, a girl who identified herself as 12-year-old Addison Gardner from Buffalo Middle School, gave impassioned remarks against the bill.
“I play for varsity volleyball and I run track. My education is very important to me, and I plan on doing great things in life,” she said. “If a man decides that I’m an object, and does unspeakable, tragic things to me, am I, a child, supposed to carry and birth another child?”
“Am I to put my body through the physical trauma of pregnancy? Am I to suffer the mental implications, a child who had no say in what was being done with my body?” she continued. “Some here say they are pro-life. What about my life? Does my life not matter to you?”
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The forced birthers don't have a moral leg to stand on. 