Senate Bill No. 220

(By Senators Weeks and Smith)

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[Introduced January 19, 2004; referred to the Committee on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on the Judiciary.]

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A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §30-5-26, relating to allowing pharmacists and other individuals involved in dispensing medicines to refuse to fill prescriptions or dispense any substance that can be used as an abortifacient or that can be used as part of an abortion-related procedure; providing employee protection; and providing criminal penalty.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §30-5-26, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. PHARMACISTS, PHARMACY TECHNICIANS, PHARMACY INTERNS
AND PHARMACIES.
§30-5-26. Refusal to dispense abortion-related medicines allowed; discipline prohibited; criminal penalty; liability.

(a) No pharmacist licensed in the state of West Virginia is required to fill any prescription or dispense any substance that can be used as an abortifacient or that can be used as part of an abortion-related procedure.
(b) A pharmacist refusing to fill a prescription for, or dispense, a substance that can be used as an abortifacient or that can be used as part of an abortion-related procedure is not subject to any form of discipline, penalty or punishment because of the exercise of his or her conscience in that instance.
(c) This section extends to all persons involved in dispensing medicine in the state of West Virginia.
(d) A business, institution or employer who takes action against a person in violation of subsection (b) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars.
(e) A business, institution or employer who takes action against a person in violation of subsection (b) of this section is liable for all back pay and benefits owed to the disciplined employee as a result of the violation.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow pharmacists and other individuals involved in dispensing medicines to refuse to fill prescriptions or dispense any substance that can be used as an abortifacient or that can be used as part of an abortion-related procedure.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.