West Virginia GOP Really, Really Wants to Remove the Rape Exception From Its Abortion Ban

Twenty-four hours after a GOP Sen. withdrew his bill to get rid of the rape exception—because he was getting threats—a GOP Del. introduced an identical bill. "Why are we doing this?" the House Minority Leader, a Democrat, told the press.

By Kylie Cheung | February 21, 2025 | 3:01pm

Photo: Getty Images Abortion Politics

West Virginia GOP Really, Really Wants to Remove the Rape Exception From Its Abortion Ban

If only West Virginia’s GOP state lawmakers were as tenacious about helping people as they were about targeting child rape victims.

Earlier this month, state Sen. Majority Whip Jay Taylor (R) introduced a bill that would amend the state’s total abortion ban to remove its exemptions for rape victims. Taylor stressed his delusional belief that “life begins at conception” to justify the bill. Under the current law, adult victims can access abortion up to eight weeks into their pregnancy (before many people know they’re pregnant) if they report their rape to law enforcement, and the same applies to underage victims for up to 14 weeks.

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Then, on Wednesday, Taylor withdrew the bill, offering a bizarre statement claiming that he “originally introduced with the intention of protecting the lives of unborn children.” To be clear, he is referring to embryos and fetuses, prioritized over child rape victims who could die carrying unsafe pregnancies, or be tied to their abuser for the rest of their lives. Taylor continued, “However, I recognize now that reintroducing the bill this year was a mistake, particularly given its unrealistic path forward.” He further claimed that since he introduced the bill, he and his family have faced threats. I am, obviously, not publicly endorsing physical harm toward anyone, but I’ll say it: People should be afraid to wield their power to harm child rape victims. (Or attack anyone’s bodily autonomy, for that matter!)

Taylor then wrote that he hopes “withdrawing the bill, alongside my genuine apology, will help reduce tensions.”

Erm, not exactly!

Within 24 hours, a GOP delegate, Del. Lisa White (R) in West Virginia’s state House, introduced an identical bill, HB 2712, joined by nine Republican co-sponsors. “I think what people are focusing on is that I don’t care about women or little kids or anything like that. That’s the furthest thing from the truth for me,” White told West Virginia Watch. “I do believe that life begins at conception, and I cannot, in my mind, rationalize that their lives don’t matter … because this baby was conceived under horrible, horrific circumstances, it’s still a life to me.” Every single person backing this should be on some sort of watchlist and barred from being within 100 feet of born, living children.

“I just want to stress that I’m not a horrible person,” White added.

As Emily Womeldorffof, director of policy and campaign for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, put it: “The introduction of HB 2712 is a clear indication that cruelty is not only the point of these continued attacks on abortion care, but the priority.”

“On the heels of a legislator rescinding a piece of legislation just like that, because the public spoke up on that … it just says that you are tone deaf and you’re not listening to the public, the constituents of West Virginia,” House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, a Democrat, told the outlet. He called White’s actions “reprehensible” and “actually disturbing that we are going to traumatize women with the mere fact of they don’t have a choice on their body.”

When it comes to rape exceptions, the unfortunate reality is that they’ve proven incredibly inaccessible. In the few states whose abortion bans offer these exceptions, victims often don’t know about them, don’t know how to access them, or don’t feel safe reporting their rapes to law enforcement. Doctors and advocates have also warned that abortion providers in abortion-banned states are often too afraid to provide abortion care, no matter someone’s circumstances, since they fear they could still go to prison under some of these vague laws.

Given that rape exceptions are, sadly, largely symbolic anyway, it’s arguably even more abhorrent that GOP lawmakers across the country are so insistent on removing or excluding them. Since 2023, Tennessee Republicans have defeated multiple attempts to add a rape exception to their ban—including a bill that threatened victims with three years in prison if they falsely reported their rape. In 2024, Missouri Republicans, too, defeated a bill to add a rape exception, with one lawmaker arguing that carrying your rapist’s baby could be “healing” and another warning that “a one-year-old could get an abortion” (???) under the exception. Louisiana Republicans blocked a similar bill in May, warning that lying, scheming teens would take advantage of it. And in January, Indiana introduced a bill that would require rape victims to submit legal affidavits to access abortion, effectively threatening them with perjury if their reports are deemed false.

West Virginia is currently weighing eight different anti-abortion bills in the state legislature, on top of the state’s total ban, including one to threaten doctors who prescribe medication abortion. “Why are we doing this?” Womeldorffof said. “It is virtually impossible for anybody to get this care in this state.”