Polls consistently show that most West Virginia voters are concerned about jobs and the economy. Abortion doesn’t rank near the top, but it’s an emotional issue that can draw attention at election time.
That’s what has happened in the tight race for the open seat in West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District between Democrat Nick Casey and Republican Alex Mooney.
Mooney charges that Casey supports “abortion of pain-capable unborn children.” That’s a reference to Casey’s opposition to a bill passed by the West Virginia Legislature earlier this year that banned abortions after 20 weeks unless the mother has a medical emergency.
Pro-life organizations and many lawmakers strongly supported the bill, arguing that there is medical evidence that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks. Governor Tomblin, who has a pro-life record, vetoed the bill. Tomblin argued the bill was unconstitutional and it interfered in the doctor-patient relationship.
Casey, a life-long Catholic, bristles at the suggestion by Mooney that he favors late-term abortions. “It’s false,” Casey said on Metronews Talkline Friday. Casey said he lobbied for a bill that banned abortions after 24 weeks, which is the viability point traditionally identified by the medical community.
Casey says if the pro-life side would have agreed to 24 weeks, West Virginia would now have a law preventing late term abortions because there would not have been the same Constitutional questions. “They ruined it. They made it a bill they couldn’t pass,” Casey said. As it stands now, it’s theoretically possible to have a late-term abortion in West Virginia, if you could find a doctor to perform the procedure.
But the pro-life side would not budge off 20 weeks. That’s been installed as the standard across the country for pro-life organizations trying to bring the abortion issue back to the U.S. Supreme Court. If the pro-life side can establish by way of a high court decision that a fetus feels pain at 20 weeks, then it stands to reason the state has a responsibility to protect that fetus from pain.
The abortion issue used to be defined more easily in political terms. Candidates were pro-life or pro-choice. Later the issue became more nuanced, bearing conditions where a politician would support or oppose abortion.
Now the debate is creating factions within the pro-life side, according to one’s view of when a fetus feels pain and at what point in the second trimester past which abortion should not be allowed. The new candidate litmus test for many pro-life organizations is the 20-week standard.
Mooney has the endorsement of pro-life organizations, including West Virginians for Life and the National Right to Life Committee. Casey says he’s opposed to partial and late term abortions, except in cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother.