"West Virginia's only abortion clinic has resumed scheduling patients for abortions following a Monday ruling from a Charleston judge blocking enforcement of the state's 150-year-old abortion ban.
Communications Director Kaylen Barker said Tuesday that the Women's Health Center of West Virginia is scheduling abortion patients for as early as next week.
West Virginia has a state law on the books dating back to the 1800s making performing or obtaining an abortion a felony, punishable by up to a decade in prison. It provides an exception for cases in which a pregnant person’s life is at risk.
The Women’s Health Center of West Virginia had suspended abortion services June 24, the day the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Staffers canceled dozens of abortion appointments, fearing they or their patients could be prosecuted under the old statute.
During Monday's court hearing, lawyers for the Women’s Health Center argued that the old law is void because it has not been enforced in more than 50 years and has been superseded by a slew of modern laws regulating abortion that acknowledge West Virginian's right to the procedure.
Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Tera L. Salango agreed, granting a preliminary injunction against the ban. The judge said the recent laws enacted by the state legislature 'hopelessly conflict with the criminal abortion ban' and that it would be 'inequitable' to allow conflicting laws to remain on the books.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey decried the ruling, calling it 'a dark day for West Virginia'. He said his office will appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court". -Leah Willingham, Associated Press
The decision came hours after a Louisiana judge extended a temporary block on the state from enforcing a “trigger law" ban.
"A Louisiana judge has temporarily blocked the southern US state from enforcing laws banning abortion that were set to take effect after the United States Supreme Court overturned its landmark Roe v Wade abortion decision last week.
Louisiana is one of 13 states with 'trigger laws' designed to ban or severely restrict abortions once Roe, which recognised a right to the procedure nationwide, was overturned.
Monday, Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Robin Giarrusso issued a temporary restraining order blocking Louisiana from carrying out its ban shortly after Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, one of Louisiana’s three abortion clinics, sued". -Nate Raymond, Reuters
The judicial branch has been politicized to such a degree that judges who fulfill Alexander Hamilton’s qualifications – judges who compare legislation to the Constitution – are characterized as literalist extremists, while judges who legislate from the bench are termed moderates. Today’s judiciary has been so thoroughly corrupted that the only choice left to us is a constitutional amendment ending judicial review of legislative acts.
A large proportion of people believe that the federal judiciary has some sort of structurally ordained veto power in the Constitution as though it was expressly deligated to the courts owing to its power of judicial review. When, in fact, it was mere case law that conferred the power of judicial review upon the Supreme Court which is why it's able to essentially hand out the law of the land with nothing to keep it in check.
In the meantime, I look forward to all of the mounting legal challenges regarding women’s bathrooms, the Selective Service, high school sports for girls, ect. After all, these sexual distinctions are observably outdated and, resultantly, shall be superseded by the existing, and more recently enacted legislation which directly conflicts with the voided rules and regulations of yesteryear.