West Virginia legislators approve abortion ban with few exceptions

West Virginia state senators debate a sweeping bill to ban abortion with few exceptions on the Senate floor in Charleston, W.Va., as onlookers watch from the gallery on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. Several Republican lawmakers have said they hope the bill will make it impossible for the state’s only abortion clinic to continue to offer the procedure. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham)

West Virginia’s legislature has passed a sweeping abortion ban with few exceptions, approving a bill that several members of the Republican supermajority said they hope will make it impossible for the state’s only abortion clinic to continue to offer the procedure.

“It is going to shut down that abortion clinic, of that I feel certain,” senator Robert Karnes said on the Senate floor, amid shouts from protesters outside the chamber doors.