Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

12-Year-Old Has The Internet Cheering With 45-Second Abortion Rights Plea To WV Legislature

12-Year-Old Has The Internet Cheering With 45-Second Abortion Rights Plea To WV Legislature
@tizzywoman/Twitter

A 12-year-old girl left people applauding after addressing the West Virginia state legislature about its restrictive and dangerous abortion law proposed in the state.

The girl's speech occurred at a public hearing about the law, House Bill 302 which bans abortion in all but the most extreme exceptions and criminalizes the procedure for doctors.


Each speaker at the hearing was given 45 seconds to speak.

12-year-old Addison Gardner made every single one of hers count.

See her speech below.

The bill provides a total ban on abortion in all but cases of rape and incest but not for the life of the pregnant person, and also allows criminal prosecution of doctors who provide the procedure.

Gardner gave an impassioned plea to the legislature for a more reasonable abortion rights law.

She asked lawmakers:

“If a man decides that I’m an object, and does unspeakable, tragic things to me, am I, a child, supposed to carry and birth another child?”
“Am I to put my body through the physical trauma of pregnancy?"
"Am I to suffer the mental implications, a child who had no say in what was being done with my body?"

The bill, which has passed the West Virginia House of Delegates, does provide exceptions for some, but not all, cases of rape and incest. But the requirements are so stiff they will make access impossible for most people.

In order to obtain an abortion in the case of rape and incest, the victim will have to have reported the crime to law enforcement, which is often impossible for victims for myriad reasons, especially for those who are minors.

The pregnant person will also have to have a medical professional confirm the fetus was under 14 weeks and all other rules of the bill were followed—a requirement easily thwarted by anti-abortion doctors who can simply lie and refuse to sign off on the procedure.

Ash Orr, a transgender activist from the state's Appalachian region who spoke about having been raped at the ages of 9 and 10, pointed out the cruelty of these policies.

They said:

“I want you to explain to me why it would have been OK for me as a child to have carried my rapist’s child."
"Explain it to me like I’m one of the children that y’all are willing to traumatize.”

Gardner went on to underline the hypocrisy inherent to this approach to abortion access by West Virginia Republicans.

"Some here say they are pro-life. What about my life? Does my life not matter to you?”

On Twitter, people applauded Gardner for speaking out and were outraged by the bill.






The bill passed the West Virginia House of Delegates and will now move on to the Senate, where it is also expected to pass.

More from News

 Andrew Isker
Contra Mundum Podcast

Christian Podcaster Roasted After Claiming He Opts For TSA Pat-Down For Truly Bonkers Reason

Christian nationalist Andrew Isker from Tennessee avoids walking through an airport security scanner at all costs because he claims it makes people gay.

So what's the alternative method he prefers for security clearance? A full body pat down by male TSA agents, of course.

Keep ReadingShow less
Nancy Mace
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Nancy Mace Ripped After Raging Over 'Evil' Constituents Asking Her To Host Town Hall

In March, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP leaders held a caucus meeting to instruct Republican members of Congress to cancel town halls and avoid their constituents for the foreseeable future. But South Carolina MAGA Republican Representative Nancy Mace decided to take things a bit further.

Mace posted three videos attacking her own constituents for sending her an invitation and repeatedly asking for a town hall.

Keep ReadingShow less
Back shot of five young, carefree female friends stand in a field of tall sunflowers clasp hands and raise their arms to the sky.
Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

Unbothered People Explain How They Became Immune To A-Holes

Being able to walk away from toxic people is a skill.

Too many of us have wasted too much time in life on people who drag us down.

Keep ReadingShow less
parents holding child's hands
Nienke Burgers on Unsplash

Times People Realized Their Parents Weren't Who They Thought They Were

Some kids grow up with an inflated perception of their parents. They see them as infallible heros.

These kids are usually in for a very rude awakening.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov
10 News First/YouTube

American YouTuber Arrested After Sneaking Onto Remote Island And Leaving Diet Coke For Uncontacted Tribe

24-year-old YouTuber Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov was arrested after making contact with one of the world's last uncontacted tribes, making the perilous and ill-advised journey to North Sentinel Island and leaving a coconut and a can of Diet Coke on the beach as a gift to the Sentinelese.

Polyakov, 24, arrived at the northeastern shore of North Sentinel Island at 10 a.m. on March 29, according to police reports. He used binoculars to survey the land but saw no one. He then climbed ashore, leaving behind a Diet Coke and a coconut, took sand samples, and recorded a video, the authorities said.

Keep ReadingShow less