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West Virginia Lawmakers Nix Veto, Make Abortion Bill Law
By: Associated Press
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – West Virginia lawmakers have overridden a veto to put into law a ban on a common second-trimester abortion method.
The House and Senate voted Thursday to override Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s veto of the measure outlawing the safest second-trimester abortion practice, dilation and evacuation.
The law becomes effective in late May.
Tomblin vetoed it Wednesday, citing patient safety and constitutionality concerns. Courts blocked similar bans that Kansas and Oklahoma enacted in 2015.
Lawmakers needed a simple majority for the override.
The law bans the abortion method unless the doctor already had caused demise of the fetus. Exceptions exist for medical emergencies.
There aren’t criminal or civil penalties, but physicians can potentially lose medical licenses.
Last year, lawmakers overrode Tomblin’s veto of a ban on abortions 20 weeks after conception.