House District 5 (all of Wetzel county and the western tip of Monongalia county) elects one member.

Dave Pethtel earned an F from Life Gauge.  In 2006 he voted against a motion to dispense with committee reference, effectively killing a parental notification bill.  He is a Democrat.  Due to his voting record, Life Gauge does not recommend that constituents contact him.

Senate District 2 (all of Wetzel, Marshall, Tyler, Doddridge, Ritchie and Calhoun counties, and part of Monongalia and Marion counties) elects two members.

Jeffrey Kessler earned an F from Life Gauge.  As the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, in 2007 he killed SJR 9, a constitutional amendment that would remove the right to abortion, and the right to abortion funding, from the WV Constitution.

In 2006 he killed SJR 13, a constitutional amendment that would remove the right to abortion from the West Virginia constitution.

In 2004 he killed five measures that would affect unborn babies in West Virginia.  The most important were two Constitutional Amendments.  One was the amendment mentioned above (SJR 2).  The other Constitutional Amendment (SJR 9) would end the state's funding of abortion, currently justified by the same court ruling .

Mr. Kessler also killed SB 426 (prohibit cloning) and SB 2 (prohibit the transporting of minors across state lines to procure an abortion).  And Mr. Kessler killed SB 658, that allows medical workers to refuse to be involved in any abortion-related activity.

In 2003 Mr. Kessler killed 4 of the same bills  ---  SB 514 (cloning), SB 526 (transport minors), SJR 14 ( Constitution not grant abortion rights) and  SJR 13 ( Constitution not justify the state paying for abortions).

Mr Kessler has never introduced a Life Gauge bill.

In 2005 the Senate leadership began to assign almost all of Life Gauge's bills to the Health committee, instead of to Mr. Kessler's Judiciary committee.  

In 2007, SJR 9 must have escaped their attention.  Of 12 bills introduced, it was the only one assigned to the Judiciary committee.  In 2006, the same thing happened to SJR 13.  It was the only one of twenty Life Gauge bills to be assigned to the Judiciary committee.

The request for protective bills to be routed to a different committee must have come from Mr. Kessler himself, who was uncomfortable with Life Gauge's ad in his hometown newspaper in the fall of 2004.  No one else would have a reason to ask that the bills not come to the Judiciary committee.

Mr. Kessler is a Democrat whose is up for re-election in 2008.  Contact him at 514 7th St, Moundsville WV 26041, or 843-1386.  Tell him to ask that abortion-related bills come to his committee, and that he put them on the agenda for a vote.

Larry Edgell earned a D from Life Gauge.  For five years, beginning in 2002, Life Gauge asked him to introduce a Life Gauge bill.  He never did.  We finally quit asking.  He is a Democrat whose term ends in 2010.  Contact him at 600 Fifth St New Martinsville WV 26155, or 455-5304.  Ask him to cooperate with Life Gauge.