Thursday West Virginia Governor Jim Justice signed the Support for Mothers and Babies Act (HB 2002) into law. This bill will be a massive advancement for mothers during pregnancy and even after a child is born. It will provide funding for pregnancy help organizations in West Virginia by creating a funding mechanism for the state’s pregnancy help centers.
What is it?
The act will prompt a $1 million fund to be established by the West Virginia Mothers and Babies Pregnancy Support Program funded by the state that will then be distributed to centers across the state. Those centers may include the Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRCs), Maternity Homes, or Perinatal Hospice Centers across West Virginia.
One of the biggest win for this bill is that only pro-life organizations who do not commit or refer for abortions may qualify for the funds. Making this a huge win for the pro-life movement.
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What will be funded by the bill?
The funding that is set up through the adoption of the bill can be used to purchase items for mothers, educational materials, equipment, perinatal hospice services, updating facilities, hiring staff, and even other options.
Details on the bill’s signing
Governor Jim Justice signed the act into law just two days after an abortion facility announced it would open for business just five miles from West Virginia’s border in Cumberland, Maryland. This facility will preform abortions in the second trimester at which point babies have a heart beat and can feel the pain.
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How will it affect the state?
West Virginia has nearly 30 pro-life Pregnancy Resource Centers throughout the state and this act will now provide them with state funding that will help to increase their goal of increasing services for the population. This bill will also increase West Virginia’s adoption tax credit a thousand dollars to $5,000. It will also make adopted children in the state eligible for early interventions services, including Birth To Three and Right From The Start.
The southern regional director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Caitlin Connors, has said
West Virginia’s pregnancy centers empower women and impact lives for the better every day. These organizations provide free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, medical exams, counseling, parent classes, financial classes, and resources such as food, diapers, clothing, and financial assistance for housing and utilities. The pregnancy help centers are engaging in a labor of love. West Virginia’s former abortion facility has chosen a very different path – setting up shop just across the border in Maryland to make a profit at the expense of human lives. This is possible because of Maryland’s extreme anti-child, anti-woman laws that allow abortion on demand at any point in pregnancy for virtually any reason.
Thanks to bill sponsor Del. Dean Jeffries’ and Gov. Justice’s leadership, West Virginia continues its legacy of being a state that values women and the unborn.
