Senate Bill No. 485
(By Senator Caruth)
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[Introduced January 29, 2008; 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 §33-42-9, relating to requiring that every woman
seeking an abortion be given the opportunity to see an ultrasound image of the
fetus; prescribing a criminal penalty for violations of said section; and
providing that nothing in said section can be construed as approving of
abortion.
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 §33-42-9, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 42. WOMEN'S ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE ACT.
§33-42-9. Requirement that woman seeking abortion be given opportunity
to see ultrasound image of fetus.
Before any medical practitioner may perform an abortion, he or she shall afford
the woman seeking the abortion an opportunity to view an ultrasound image of her
unborn child. Any person who violates the provisions of this section is guilty
of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than
fifty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars. Nothing contained in this
section may be construed or interpreted to endorse, allow, permit or approve of
abortion.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require every woman seeking an abortion to
be given the opportunity to see an ultrasound image of the fetus. The bill also
prescribes a criminal penalty for violations of the section. It also provides
that nothing in the section can be construed as approving of abortion.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been
omitted.