ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 566
(By Senators Kessler, Guills, Minard, Bowman, Harrison, Deem,
Snyder, Smith, Minear, Prezioso, Oliverio, Weeks, Facemyer,
Boley, Sharpe, Bailey, Hunter, Ross, Fanning, Love, McKenzie,
Dempsey, Jenkins, Sprouse, Edgell, Plymale and Unger)
____________
[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 26, 2004.]
____________
A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §61-2-30, relating to
establishing the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act"; recognizing
a fetus as a person for purposes of being a separate victim of
certain crimes of violence against the person; specifying
penalties; providing definitions and exceptions; and certain
convictions not barred.
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 §61-2-30, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.
§61-2-30. Recognizing a fetus as a distinct victim of certain
crimes of violence against the person.
(a) This section may be known and cited as the "Unborn Victims
of Violence Act".
(b)
Definitions. -- As used in this section, the term "fetus"
means a member of the species homo sapiens at any stage of
development while carried in the womb of the mother.
(c) For purposes of enforcing the provisions of sections one,
four and seven, section twenty-eight of this article, subsections
(a) and (c), section nine of said article, sections ten and ten-b
of said article and subsection (a), section twenty-eight of said
article, a pregnant woman and the fetus she is carrying constitute
separate and distinct victims.
(d)
Exceptions. -- The provisions of this section do not apply
to:
(1) Acts which cause the death of a fetus if those acts were
committed during a legal abortion to which the pregnant woman, or
a person authorized by law to act on her behalf, consented or for
which the consent is implied by law;
(2) Acts by medical personnel which occur, including, but not
limited to, any diagnostic testing, medical treatment or fertility
treatment;
(3) Acts involving the use of force in lawful defense of self
or another but not a fetus; and
(4) Acts of a pregnant woman with respect to the fetus she is carrying.
(e) For purposes of the enforcement of the provisions of this
section, a violation of the provisions of article twenty-one,
chapter sixteen of this code shall not serve as a waiver of the
protection afforded by the provisions of subdivision (1),
subsection (d) of this section.
(f)
Other convictions not barred. -- A prosecution for or
conviction under this section is not a bar to conviction of or
punishment for any other crime committed by the defendant arising
from the same incident.
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