On World Down Syndrome Day (Monday, March 21), West Virginia Governor Jim Justice (R) signed a new law titled the "Unborn Child with a Disability Protection and Education Act," which has been touted as a measure to protect Down syndrome from abortion. The law prohibits people from seeking abortions because their child will have a disability, except in the case of a medical emergency or in cases where a baby is "nonmedically viable."
AFN asked Dr. Wanda Franz of West Virginians for Life if the law will only protect Down syndrome babies.
"The Down syndrome babies are by far the largest number [in] percentage of these cases of babies who are screened for a disability," she explains, "but it protects all disabilities, the diagnosis of Down syndrome, or any disability from being aborted."
Under the new law, when the mother is told of the pre-birth diagnosis the abortionist is not only barred from performing an abortion but must provide educational materials on the diagnosis and resources available. The abortionist also has some paperwork to do.
"They have to indicate the information about when they received the screening tests and how they went about addressing the issue to the family and the fact that they did give out material and so forth," she adds.
Abortionists who fail to fulfill that responsibility can be held accountable before the medical board.
