Latest news with #WestVirginiaSenate
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Some Mountaineers are free — but that doesn't apply to everyone
The West Virginia Senate voted to ban hormone treatment for children diagnosed with gender dysphoria on March 6, 2025. The bill has moved to the House of Delegates for consideration. (Will Price | West Virginia Legislative Photography) The freedom to make your own choices is part of being an American. West Virginians take this seriously. We believe in individual freedoms and self-reliance. It's baked into our state motto: Mountaineers are always free. In practice, freedom in our state doesn't apply to everyone. For years, the leaders in our state government have sent a clear message: Some Mountaineers are free — they have the freedom to live their lives the way they see fit. Others have to play by our rules. If you have decided to have an abortion, you can't do that here. If you have decided to help your kid get the health care they need to be themselves, you can't do that here, either. And with persistently high poverty, falling investments in public education, and a crisis in affordable child care, too many Mountaineers are trapped in generational hardship, working multiple jobs to scrape by. Every year, our Legislature gets just eight weeks to address the concerns of hardworking West Virginians. But too often, these sessions are dominated by political agendas that create more problems than solutions for our most vulnerable, and just as often, any attempt to resolve structural challenges to our communities is pushed to the side by culture wars that just cause more harm. A clear example of these twisted priorities is abortion. Abortion is completely banned for nearly every person who lives in West Virginia. The Legislature made sure of that by enacting a near-total ban three years ago. And yet lawmakers continue to attack this care, advancing a bill this year that targets out-of-state providers of abortion care by threatening them with a prison sentence. They've also kept up their attacks on gender-affirming health care. This year, lawmakers are working to eliminate an essential, life-saving mental health exception to the current ban on this care — an exception used by only a handful of young people who live here. The thing is, these politicians are counting on us to sit on the sidelines. They would prefer that their constituents stay home and let them make all the decisions, no matter the cost. And if we let them get away with that, then we have truly lost our way as Mountaineers — as people who fight for our right to live without the government telling us what we can and cannot do. New bills are introduced week by week that seek to strip us of what little reproductive rights remain, and if we allow our lawmakers to act unchecked, they will just continue to take them from us and ignore the real issues that affect us. Our resistance is essential. That's why, this Friday, April 4, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic is hosting a Reproductive Resistance Advocacy Day at the state legislature to provide Mountaineers from across the state an opportunity to show up, speak their mind, learn more about the state of their rights, and find community amongst life-minded advocates in this fight for accessible reproductive care. I'm a lifelong West Virginian and proud to be. I cherish my neighbors, my community, and, regardless of our differences, all of my fellow Mountaineers. We take care of one another. But it's time we hold our lawmakers to that same principle and apply that care to our reproductive health as well. We can't afford inaction or ignorance — our futures depend on it.
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Vaccine exemptions bill waits in the West Virginia House of Delegates
FAIRMONT — Increasing vaccination exemptions beyond medical to personal for public school children could risk the state's leadership in communicable disease prevention, according to one health care expert. 'At the end of the day for children, there's very close interactions and there's a lot of spreading of different germs,' Dr. Lisa Costello, an assistant professor in General Pediatrics at the West Virginia University School of Medicine. 'That's why having immunization policies in place — every state has immunization requirements for school entrance, with the differences based upon the exemptions to these requirements. In West Virginia, we get it right. Other states look to us as leaders in this area because of only allowing medical exemptions.' Senate Bill 460 seeks to add philosophical or religious exemptions to the state's vaccine requirements for children who attend public school. The bill passed out of the West Virginia Senate on Feb. 21 on a vote of 20-12 and was sent to the House of Delegates, where it has resided since Feb. 25. The House Health and Human Resources Committee holds the bill and after a hearing on Feb. 24, the bill is in markup discussion. Bailey Kuykendoll, operations director for the Naples, Fla.-based Stand for Health Freedom, a national nonprofit that advocates for reduced vaccination requirements, submitted a comment in favor of the bill. The comment frames vaccine requirements using the language of personal freedom and religious conviction. 'No student should be forced to choose between their conscience and their future,' Kuykendoll wrote. 'SB460 ensures that individuals retain the right to make personal medical decisions without facing exclusion or discrimination in schools and universities.' However, that framing omits any mention of the consequences to public welfare, or the danger of resurgent diseases long thought eliminated, such as polio or measles. An unvaccinated New Mexico resident died from a suspected case of measles on Thursday, a week after a 6-year-old child died of measles in Texas. New Mexico reported 30 measles case a day. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there's already been over 220 cases of measles just three months in 2025. In 2024, there was a total of 285 for the whole of the year. So, what is measles and why is there a vaccine for it? Measles, which is airborne, can lead to 'ear infections, pneumonia, and encephalitis or inflammation of the brain that can lead to permanent neurologic damage and even death. On average, measles kills between one and three of every 1,000 infected children,' according to Johns Hopkins Medical. The current measles outbreak centers around a county in Texas where vaccinations are low due to a high number of personal belief exemptions allowed under state law. Costello said medical exemptions are important, and some individuals can't receive childhood immunizations for different reasons, such as allergic reactions or difficult treatments like cancer treatment. West Virginia has medical exemptions on the books. 'When you start talking about any other type of exemption, it's really for me, nonmedical exemption, and it can be really hard to delineate what that means,' Costello said. She added that strong policies like the kind West Virginia has, has afforded the state protections which have prevented outbreaks of preventable diseases like those that have happened in other parts of the country, including neighboring states. Moreover, Cathy Stemp, former State Health Officer and Commissioner, pointed out in a letter to the committee, that West Virginia Parochial schools note the bill is not a religious freedom bill, since it mandates action against their religious tenet of honoring health and protecting those in their learning community. Dan Salmon, professor at John Hopkins University's Division of Global Disease Epidemiology and Control, studies optimizing the prevention of childhood infectious diseases through the use of vaccines, with an emphasis on determining the risks of vaccine refusal. He also looks at the factors that impact vaccine acceptance as well as evaluating and improving state laws that give exemptions to school immunization requirements. 'Philosophical exemptions, or personal belief exemptions, are associated with increasing rates of exemptions, higher rates of exemptions and higher rates of disease,' Salmon said. 'When you have states that have fairly narrow exemptions, and how you implement and enforce that — it's pretty complicated, not easy — but when they're stricter, you see less disease. When states have really easy exemptions, you see more disease.' However, there is nuance. While Maryland has religious exemptions that are easier to get than it is to get a child vaccinated, the state still has low exemption rates. Salmon said that largely reflects that most Marylanders want to vaccinate their kids. It could also be because when some parents read the religious exemption, they think it doesn't apply to them because their issue isn't religious. Salmon emphasized the importance of educating parents on the subject of vaccines and their kid's health. Salmon said if SB460 does pass in West Virginia, education will become more important. But there are concerns. 'My concern is there's so much misinformation out there and things have become so polarized we're really going to see drops in immunization coverage,' he said. 'We're going to see a return of measles and we're going to see a lot more pertussis and other diseases and that's what my concern really is.' However, he did have some suggestions for states that expand vaccine exemptions past medical. One is annual renewal in order to encourage the parent to revisit the issue. Views can change over time. It also ensures exemptions are legitimate. Another thing he's seen states do is mandate education before granting exemptions. Costello said what motivates a lot of parents around the issue of vaccination is love and doing what's best for children. Costello is a mother herself, and as a pediatrician, she sees individuals do what they think is best for their child. Unfortunately, she said, there's a lot of misinformation and disinformation out there. 'When it comes to immunizations, this is one of the cases where one individual's choice does impact the community, and that's something that needs ongoing education,' she said. 'I get that this is very complex. There's a lot of complexities in regards to immunology, and, a lot of trying to make it understandable. So that's an ongoing effort. We need to continue to try to educate and have those discussions in ways that make sense.'
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Morrisey's priority bill defining ‘woman' and ‘man' clears WV Senate
The West Virginia Senate approved a bill that aims to keep transgender individuals from accessing women's bathrooms, locker rooms and other spaces. The measure would also define sex-based terms of female and male using biological sex. (Will Price | West Virginia Legislative Photography) The terms of 'woman' and 'man' would be defined using biological sex in state law, according to a bill approved Monday in the Senate. The measure, a priority piece of legislation for Gov. Patrick Morrisey, would also limit transgender individuals' access to women's bathrooms, locker rooms and domestic violence shelters. 'Currently, West Virginia has no law specifically defining men and women. The legislation seeks to remedy that,' said Sen. Mike Stuart, R-Kanawha. Senate Bill 456, contains no criminal penalties for schools, higher education institutions and others that would fail to uphold the bill's requirements. Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, was the only Senator to vote against the measure, saying it was based on the 'idea of this boogeyman story of what might happen,' rather than on data or incidents that occurred in West Virginia. Garcia, who cited a Biblical story on the floor, said that his Christian faith had propelled him to vote against the measure. 'I believe that God made people how they are, and that he does not make mistakes, and that every child is a child,' he said. 'So this legislation, I believe, it hurts my neighbors. It does not love them. And for that reason, I will be a no.' In response, Sen. Rollan Roberts, R-Raleigh, said the Bible said that Genesis outlined male and female sexes. 'Stating the facts, as we see in the foundational book of the Bible, does not mean that there is a lack of love or compassion for anyone else on this earth, and I support the bill wholeheartedly,' Roberts said. The West Virginia Coalition of Domestic Violence opposes the measure, and a leader of a shelter told lawmakers that could impact their ability to serve transgender individuals. Additionally, tight budgets could make it impossible to build separate spaces as needed under the bill. 'It denies individual freedoms under the guise of protecting women and is counter to our survivor centered and empowerment values,' the coalition said in a statement. The measure passed the state Senate as U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, who failed to get a similar bill through the Legislature last year while governor, joined his Senate GOP colleagues in seeking clarification from the NCAA on its policy allowing biological males in women's locker rooms. The bill, which goes to the House of Delegates for consideration, is the second of high-profile Morrisey-backed legislation to make it through the Senate. The Senate approved the governor's requested vaccination exemption bill Feb. 21. The measure would permit broad religious and philosophical exemptions to the state's strict childhood immunization laws. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
West Virginia Legislature convenes for start of session
The West Virginia Senate convened Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, for the first day of the regular legislative session in Charleston, (Will Price | West Virginia Legislative Photography) The West Virginia Legislature gaveled in on Wednesday for the first day of its 60-day regular session. In the House of Delegates, lawmakers approved new rules for the chamber that ended a requirement to hold hearings for bills when requested. Senators had a light agenda Wednesday, introducing 299 bills and referring them to various committees as well as introducing a handful of resolutions and passing one. Lawmakers planned to take on legislation about vaccines later this week. Senate Health Committee Chairwoman Laura Chapman, R-Ohio, said her committee would meet Thursday and take up legislation codifying Gov. Patrick Morrisey's executive order carving out religious or moral exemptions to the state's school vaccine requirements and changing the process by which parents request a medical exemption to the school vaccine laws. Under the bill, which Chapman said was not ready on Wednesday, the child's physician could give a medical exemption. Under the current law, a child's doctor would submit a request for a medical exemption along with documentation to the state immunization officer to approve a permanent or temporary exemption or deny the exemption request. 'The process right now is very unfair,' Chapman said. 'It's complicated, and there are a lot of denials. The process right now is that if a child's doctor says that a particular vaccine is not appropriate for that child, that child has to petition an immunization officer who never examines the child, doesn't know the child's family history, and then either accepts or denies the doctor's recommendation that child not receive a vaccine.' According to a report by the state Bureau for Public Health, there were 53 requests for medical exemptions in 2023. Of those, 24 got temporary exemptions, nine got permanent exemptions and 19 were denied. For a religious exemption, a parent would submit a signed written statement about the religious or moral exemption to their child's school or day care administrator. Chapman said that under the bill, anyone who asks for a religious exemption for vaccine requirements would be granted one. 'There's case law on that. You're not allowed to question somebody's religious beliefs,' she said. 'I don't believe that there could even be an approval process. It's up to the parent.' All states require school students to be vaccinated for a series of infectious diseases. Until this year, West Virginia has been one of five states that allow only medical exemptions to the state's school vaccination requirements. Health officials in the state have credited the vaccination laws with preventing outbreaks of measles and other diseases in West Virginia as they have in other states. The state's Republican-led Legislature has been pushing for years to water down the state's strong vaccination laws. Last year, after lawmakers passed a bill allowing private schools to establish their own vaccination requirements, former Gov. Jim Justice vetoed the bill. Gov. Patrick Morrisey issued an executive order requiring the state to allow religious exemptions to those vaccine requirements on his second day in office. 'Until the executive order, we were one of five states that doesn't allow for religious exemptions, so essentially we are denying a child or an education,' Chapman said. 'We're in the super duper minority. And so these other states have found that it is safe to allow students to exercise their religious beliefs. As a relatively religious state, it's always kind of shocked me that we weren't also honoring that religious belief.' The legislation, should it pass out of the Senate, won't be taken up in the House next week, according to Del. Evan Worrell, chair of the House Health Committee. While Worrell, R-Cabell, is supportive of vaccine exemptions, he said that next week's Health Committee agenda was set and wouldn't include vaccine-related bills. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
