Kentucky Abortion Ban, West Virginia Criminal Law Suits Advance

July 25, 2022, 2:51 PM UTC

An 1870 West Virginia law criminalizing most abortions must be reinstated, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) told the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals in a brief urging it to overturn a state trial judge’s decision blocking the law’s enforcement.

The action is the latest salvo in just one of myriad battles being fought in state courts throughout the country, where abortion rights advocates have turned to state laws and constitutions to restore rights recently gutted by the US Supreme Court.

West Virginia’s criminal provision has never been repealed, and its disuse stems from Roe v. Wade, not state ...

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