SUMMARY: The debate over religious exemptions for school vaccinations in West Virginia intensifies as Governor Patrick Morrissey’s executive order enforcing religious freedoms clashes with state vaccination laws. A Raleigh County judge allowed three children with religious exemptions to attend school, setting a precedent. Charleston attorney Chris Pritt notes over 40 states have similar religious exemptions, though West Virginia’s are more limited. The state’s professional charter school board recently instructed charter schools to allow exemptions, facing opposition from the State School Board. Health officials warn that declining vaccination rates risk outbreaks of preventable diseases like measles and polio. The issue may ultimately be decided by the West Virginia Supreme Court.

The debate over school vaccines is ramping up again in West Virginia.

MORE: https://wchstv.com/news/local/religious-exemption-debate-front-and-center-amid-new-school-year
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SUMMARY: The Garden Sheddy, a new garden shop in Haiko, Fayette County, opened near the New River Gorge Bridge on Route 19. Named after a cat who lived in a garden shed, it offers houseplants, exotics, perennials, gardening tools, soils, and feline-friendly plants labeled for toxicity. Located next to Free Folk Brewery and Ample Pizza, it’s open Wednesday-Saturday, 10 AM–6 PM, and Sunday, 12 PM–6 PM. The owner plans seasonal classes like wreath building and planting workshops. The community has embraced it, filling a long-awaited need for gardening supplies and education in the area.

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by Lori Kersey, West Virginia Watch
August 18, 2025

Advertisements promoting the abortion pill will be at gas stations across West Virginia and Kentucky over the next few weeks. 

Mayday Health, a New York-based health education nonprofit, will run the ads at 104 rural gas stations through Sept. 7. The campaign started Aug. 11. 

The advertisements say “Pregnant? Don’t want to be? Learn more at Mayday Health.”

Executive director Liv Raisner said it’s crucial to advertise at gas stations, which serve as community hubs in rural areas.

“Many rural counties in West Virginia and Kentucky have few or no OB-GYN providers. Some have lost their only hospitals, their only clinics,” Raisner said. “So routine education and preventative reproductive health information is much harder to access through traditional medical channels. And so that’s why we decided to advertise at gas stations.”

The organization started after the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion in 2022.

“We heard this sobering statistic that only 10% of Americans even knew what abortion pills were,” Raisner said. “And with clinics closed, reproductive options became very limited for women across the United States. We knew that a massive education campaign needed to be executed to inform people that they still have options.”

According to the Guttmacher Institute, in 2023, medication abortion accounted for 63% of all abortions in the United States, up from 53% in 2020. 

In 2022, West Virginia lawmakers passed a law banning abortion with narrow exceptions. Earlier this summer, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban in a challenge brought by abortion pill manufacturer GenBioPro. 

Despite abortion being illegal in West Virginia in most cases, Raisner said the organization does not fear legal repercussions from the campaign. 

“We don’t have concerns about advertising because we don’t sell, distribute or package abortion pills,” they said. “We’re merely spreading First Amendment-protected free speech. So if anyone wants to come after us, what they’re coming after is the First Amendment.”

Earlier this year, Mayday Health launched a digital billboard and poster campaign in Tennessee and an aerial campaign above the Indy 500.

While abortion is mostly illegal in West Virginia, states with abortion bans may have trouble prosecuting out-of-state providers and entities mailing pills to people within their borders.

Since the Supreme Court struck down Roe V. Wade, 22 states and Washington D.C. have enacted shield laws that protect patients, providers and people assisting in abortion from the reach of states where it’s illegal, according to KFF. Some shield laws protect providers who send abortion pills to people in states with abortion bans. 

Earlier this year, the West Virginia Senate passed a bill aimed at out-of-state providers that would have made it a felony to prescribe or distribute medications used for abortion to people in West Virginia unless the abortion is legal. The bill was not taken up by the House of Delegates. 

West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey recently signed on to a letter urging Congress to ban shield laws, calling them “blatant attempts to interfere with states’ ability to enforce criminal laws within their borders.”

“People in [states with abortion bans] should be and are empowered to make their own decisions,” Raisner said. 

The website directs people to sites where they can order abortion medication.

People who visit Mayday Health are also linked to a helpline where they can get free, private advice on state specific abortion laws, they said. The group encourages website visitors to reach out to a hotline where a group of doctors provide free advice. 

Raisner said it’s also important for people to know that abortion pills are safe and effective. 

“There’s so much misinformation peddled by the anti-choice movement about the dangers of abortion pills, and it’s just not true,” Raisner said. “Abortion pills are so safe that they are even sold over the counter in some foreign countries. 

“Clinics are closing across the country, but people everywhere still have the power to make the choices that are right for their reproductive health,” they said. 

West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.

The post Abortion pill campaign targets rural West Virginia, Kentucky gas stations appeared first on westvirginiawatch.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

This content exhibits a Center-Left political bias as it presents a supportive view toward abortion access and reproductive rights, highlighting an organization’s efforts to promote abortion pills in regions where abortion access is restricted. It emphasizes reproductive freedom and criticizes restrictive laws, while focusing on information dissemination and legal challenges from the perspective of expanding options for abortion. The article maintains a relatively factual tone but aligns with advocacy typically associated with center-left perspectives on health care and women’s rights issues.