Tag: senator

Over the last few days West Virginia governor Earl Ray Tomblin has been in the news quite a bit. His claim to fame is that he vetoed the 20 week abortion ban last Friday. Tomblin, a “pro-life” governor said the bill was unconstitutional. I guess the other states and the U.S. House of Representatives that passed similar bills should have consulted with Tomblin’s legal team.

Joining Gov. Tomblin in the halls of shame this week is West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin. Manchin is also a self-proclaimed “pro-life” politician that is coming under fire for not becoming a sponsor of the federal 20 week abortion ban. An article at LifeNews.com explains:

“To put pressure on Manchin to support the bill, the SBA List today informed LifeNews of a $20,000 radio ad buy encouraging Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia to become the first Democratic senator to cosponsor the federal Pain Capable Unborn Child Act. The legislation would protect unborn children beginning at 20 weeks – more than halfway through pregnancy. Similar laws have been passed in 13 states. The federal bill passed the U.S. House and has more than 40 Senate cosponsors.”

Having more than 40 co-sponsors in the Senate is encouraging and gives hope for the bills hearing and passage. But it does not guarantee anything will come of it. Gov. Tomblin proved that when the West Virginia bill gained an overwhelming bi-partisan support only to have Tomblin veto the bill.

Once again West Virginia finds itself in the un-enviable position of having lawmakers in the news for all the wrong reasons. Republicans and Democrats came together to pass a life saving bill only to have our “pro-life” governor veto it. And our “pro-life” Senator won’t sign on to another life saving bill in the Senate. At some point we have to stop listening to what our candidates say and start paying attention to what they do. The next time Tomblin and Manchin claim to be pro-life the audience needs to laugh and remind them of their voting records.