By Karen Cross, National Right to Life Political Director
Pro-life Senate President Bill Cole (R), pro-life Speaker Tim Armstead, pro-life House Clerk Steve Harrison (R), pro-life Senate Clerk Clark Barnes (R), and Governor Earl Ray Tomblin (D), who vetoed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in 2014.
CHARLESTON, W.VA. – January 14, 2015, was an historic day in the Mountain State, when, after 83 years, a Republican was elected as Speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates.
Pro-life Delegate Tim Armstead was elected 64 to 35, with one abstention.
This means that pro-life leadership presided over both houses in West Virginia in 2015, when the 82nd Legislative Session convened.
West Virginians for Life, along with National Right to Life, is working to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act again this year. The bill passed in 2014 with huge bi-partisan pro-life majorities in both Houses, but was vetoed by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin.
Another pro-life legislative priority is eliminating taxpayer-funding of abortions out of the Obamacare Exchanges.
“With the election of Republican Tim Armstead as Speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates, a new day has arrived for both pro-life Republicans and pro-life Democrats,” said John Carey, legislative coordinator for West Virginians for Life. “I am looking forward to seizing this new opportunity to give a voice to the unborn children in West Virginia.”
Look for election updates in future National Right to Life News and National Right to Life News Today.