H. B. 2590
(By Delegates Porter and Sumner)
[Introduced February 18, 2009; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding
thereto a new article, designated §16-2L-1, relating to requiring the
Department of Health and Human Resources to maintain information for public
dissemination relative to judicial bypasses to the requirement of parental
notification relative to abortions performed on minors.
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 article, designated §16-2L-1, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2L. DEPARTMENT'S DUTY TO MAINTAIN AND MAKE ACCESSIBLE JUDICIAL
ACTIONS.
§16-2L-1. Department to collect, maintain and make accessible
statistical and other information regarding judicial actions allowing abortions
to be performed on minors without parental notification.
The Department of Health and Human Resources shall maintain and make available
to the public, annual statistics detailing the number of judicial bypasses
granted to minors to avoid the requirements of the provisions of article two-f
of chapter sixteen. The name of each judge who grants a bypass, and the number
of bypasses granted by each judge, shall be included in the record, along with
the age of the minors in question. Neither the name nor the address of the minor
in question may be included in the report. The age of the minors, their county
or residence, and the approximate gestational age of the unborn child shall be
provided.
Nothing in this section condones, permits, allows or endorses any abortion.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the
Department of Health and Human Resources to maintain information for public
dissemination relative to judicial bypasses to the requirement of parental
notification relative to abortions performed on minors.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law,
and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.