How Supreme Court’s decision will affect the foster care system
The Supreme Court has decided that the U.S. Constitution provides no right for women to consult with their doctors, their partners and their Creator and make their own decisions about their health care. I think it is clear that the Republican-controlled West Virginia Legislature will not recognize that basic right, either. The inevitable result will be that more women in West Virginia will be giving birth to children they are not able to care for and raise, in the foreseeable future. What will happen to those children?
There were 6,672 children in foster care in West Virginia as of May 2022, according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. Just about everyone, with the possible exception of the head of DHHR, agrees that West Virginia’s foster care program is in shambles. During the legislature’s June interim sessions, the Joint Committee on Children and Families heard testimony about the many problems in the program. The problems were not new, and will only be made greater as individual women’s decisions regarding the care of their own bodies are superceded by the decisions of members of a Legislature, who know nothing about their lives.
The West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has issued a memorandum, regarding the effects of the recent Supreme Court decision, which invalidated Roe v. Wade, outlining related issues the Legislature should consider. The governor has stated he will call a special session sometime soon, to enact legislation on those issues.
But absent from the governor’s statement is any mention of addressing how this will affect the already overloaded foster care system. It seems Governor Jim Justice is only concerned with what happens before a child is born. This is an anti-life position. If the Republican leadership of the state is going to deny a woman the right to control her own life situation, it should also address how the state will address the consequences of its actions.
Hannah N. Geffert, senator for the West Virginia 16th District