WEST virginia legislature

2024 regular session

Introduced

House Joint Resolution 27

By Delegates Young, Hamilton, Hansen, Hornbuckle, Garcia, Rowe, Pushkin, and Williams

[Introduced January 30, 2024; Referred
 to the Committee on Health and Human Resources then the Judiciary]

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia amending article III thereof by adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty-three, relating to the right to reproductive freedom with protections for health and safety; numbering and designating such proposed amendment; and providing a summarized statement of the purpose of such proposed amendment; numbering and designating such proposed amendment; and providing a summarized statement of the purpose of such proposed amendment.

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia, two thirds of the members elected to each house agreeing thereto:

That the question of ratification or rejection of an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia be submitted to the voters of the state at the next general election to be held in the 2024, which proposed amendment is that article III thereof be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty-three, to read as follows:

ARTICLE III.  BILL OF RIGHTS.

§3-23.  The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety.

(a) Every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on:

(1) Contraception;

(2) Fertility treatment;

(3) Continuing one’s own pregnancy;

(4) Miscarriage care; and

(5) Abortion.

(b) The State shall not, directly or indirectly, burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against either:

(1)  An individual’s voluntary exercise of this right or

(2) A person or entity that assists an individual exercising this right, unless the State demonstrates that it is using the least restrictive means to advance the individual’s health in accordance with widely accepted and evidence-based standards of care. However, abortion may be prohibited after fetal viability. But in no case may such an abortion be prohibited if in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician it is necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.

(c). As used in this Section: "Fetal viability" means "the point in a pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician, the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus with reasonable measures. This is determined on a case-by-case basis."

Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of article eleven, chapter three of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, such amendment is hereby numbered "Amendment 1" and designated as the "The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety" and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows:  "Preserving the right to reproductive freedom with protections for health and safety."

NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to amend the state constitution to preserve the right to reproductive freedom.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.