--- title: "Brave 12-Year-Old Eviscerates Lawmakers for Outlawing Abortion" description: "A superhero 12-year-old begged West Virginia lawmakers to think about her young life as they moved to pass an abortion-criminalizing bill." date: "2022-07-29" modified: "2022-07-29" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/12-year-old-eviscerates-lawmakers-outlawing-abortion" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "abortion" - "american politics" - "roe v wade" - "supreme court" --- # Brave 12-Year-Old Eviscerates Lawmakers for Outlawing Abortion ![A superhero 12-year-old begged West Virginia lawmakers to think about her young life as they moved to pass an abortion-criminalizing bill.]() *\Image: West Virgina House of Delegates\* On Wednesday, hours before West Virginia House of Representatives [passed a bill]() that will not only outlaw almost all abortions in the state, but will criminalize any physicians who perform the procedure, superhero 12-year-old Addison Gardner [took the floor]() to beg lawmakers to think about how such a bill would potentially affect the lives of kids like herself. "If a man decides that I’m an object and does unspeakable and tragic things to me, am I, a child, supposed to birth and carry another child?" she pleaded. "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?” West Virginia is just one of many states that have [drafted or even passed abortion bans]() in the wake of the Supreme Court's unconscionable [decision to overturn]() the abortion-legalizing precedent Roe v Wade. https://twitter.com/TheRaDR/status/1552866572213145606 Gardner was one of many West Virginians who [took to the state house floor]() to protest the bill, each given 45 seconds to make their case. While there were some anti abortion advocates in the mix as well, those who spoke were overwhelmingly pro choice, many of whom gave heart-wrenching personal accounts of abuse and trauma. This brave young girl's urgent testimony notably comes on the heels of a horrific abortion case in the Midwest, in which a 10-year-old rape victim was forced by [post-Roe Ohio law to]() travel all the way to Indiana [to receive an abortion](). Prominent anti abortion activists and politicians [tried to paint the story as fak]()e, and even after the horrifying ordeal was [unequivocally proven to be true](), the physician who performed the life-saving procedure has [received death threats]() and [may even face an investigation]() at the hands of Indiana's Attorney General. While the West Virginia House did go on to pass the bill in a landslide 69-23 majority, lawmakers did include a last minute amendment that allowed for abortions in cases of rape and incest. But as [*The Washington Post* reports](), the narrow addition only allows for such procedures before 14 weeks of pregnancy, and only in cases that are reported to the police — a stipulation that presents a [whole other set]() of obstacles. The bill was passed to the state senate on Thursday, and could become West Virginia law as soon as end of day today. It's terrifying, and nobody could possibly put what this bill means for American girls, women, and other childbearing people into words better than this 12-year-old did on the West Virginia house floor. "You say you're pro-life," she demanded. "What about my life?" **READ MORE:** [*Girl, 12, challenges W.Va. lawmakers on abortion: 'What about my life?'*]() \[*The Washington Post*\] **More on post-Roe America:** [*Floating Abortion Clinic Proposed in Gulf of Mexico to Circumvent Bans*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()