H. B. 2590
(By Delegates Porter and Sumner)
[Introduced January 13, 2010; 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.