Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, and Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, are calling for a constitutional amendment that would let voters decide on abortion rights in West Virginia. (West Virginia Legislative Photography)
As abortion is almost completely banned in West Virginia, Democrats in the Senate and House of Delegates will try again to let voters decide whether to reinstate abortion rights.
Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, and Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, introduced identical legislation in their respective chambers that would put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in the 2026 general election.
It would ask voters whether a person has a right “to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” including decisions on miscarriage care, contraception, fertility treatment and abortion.
“I don’t see a problem with allowing the people to say what they think, instead of this being a legislative issue,” Garcia said. “I believe this should be a decision that’s made between a family and a medical provider.”
The resolution, Garcia noted, comes as 10 Republican lawmakers introduced a bill to remove the rape and incest exception for adults and children in West Virginia’s near-total abortion ban. In 2023, there were 16 abortions in West Virginia.
In 2018, just under 52% of West Virginians approved a ballot measure that stated, “Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of abortion.”
Since then, the U.S. The Supreme Court decided in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the Constitution does not protect abortion rights. West Virginia lawmakers passed the state’s current abortion ban in 2022 in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.
Nationally, broader support for abortion has risen since the Dobbs decision.
“In a Post-Dobbs and Roe America, West Virginians deserve the right to have a say in their own health care,” Young said. “The GOP are obsessed with controlling the lives and bodies of our people.”
West Virginia’s state code permits only lawmakers to approve constitutional amendments to be put on ballots, compared to other states, like Ohio, where citizens can initiate ballot measures.
Young introduced a similar resolution last year, but it wasn’t taken up for consideration in the House.
Democrats’ call for a constitutional amendment on abortion faces a “slim to none” chance of being considered by an overwhelming Republican Legislature, Garcia said. He is one of two Democrats in the Senate.
“But I think it’s still important that it keeps being brought up,” he said. “That’s the only ability I have as a legislator to bring up those things that I think are important and my constituents are talking to me about.”
Garcia’s resolution has been sent to the Senate Judiciary committee, where Chairman Sen. Mike Stuart, R-Kanawha, will decide if it will be considered.
Stuart said that the Judiciary Committee “has many important pieces of legislation to consider” this session and he’ll see whether they’re able to include it.
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