Senate Bill No. 37
(By Senator Weeks)
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[Introduced January 11, 2006; referred to the Committee
on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding
thereto a new section, designated §16-5-20a, relating to requiring the
collection of statistics relative to abortions performed in the state.
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 §16-5-20a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. VITAL STATISTICS.
§16-5-20a. Aborted fetus registration.
(a) A fetal death certificate for each fetal death caused by abortion which
occurs in this state shall be filed with the local registrar of the registration
district in which the abortion occurs within three days after the abortion and
prior to removal or disposal of the fetus, and shall be registered with the
registrar. The medical practitioner responsible for the performance of the
abortion is responsible to provide the following information to be recorded in
accordance with the provisions of this section: (1) The gestational age of the
fetus; (2) the county of residence of the mother; (3) the age of the mother; (4)
the type of abortion performed; (5) the cost of the abortion and whether it was
performed at public expense; (6) the method of disposal of the remains; and (7)
whether birth defects were known, and if so, what birth defects.
(b) Each local registrar shall provide the data collected under this section to
the Director of the Division of Health, who shall compile it. The compilation of
the data shall be made available to the public upon request.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the collection of statistics
relative to abortions performed in the state.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been
omitted.