H. B. 3297
(By Delegates Brown, Hrutkay, Webster and Hatfield)
[Introduced March 25, 2005; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §16-2I-11, relating
to making it a misdemeanor to fail to provide a woman with
information regarding all available reproductive alternatives;
and providing criminal penalties for violations.
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 §16-2I-11, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2I. WOMEN'S RIGHT TO KNOW ACT.
§16-2I-11. Failure to provide information regarding reproductive
alternatives; penalty.
(a) Any faith-based, abstinence-only or antichoice facility
that offers counseling or information to girls or women regarding
reproductive matters, including, but not limited to, contraception, abortion, adoption, pregnancy or childbirth, shall provide
information regarding all available reproductive methods.
(b) Any facility that fails to comply with the provisions of
this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars and upon
conviction of a second offense, the facility shall be permanently
closed.
(c) Nothing in this section may be construed or interpreted to
condone, permit, allow or endorse any form of coercion of a girl or
woman regarding any means of contraception, abortion, childbirth or
childcare.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make it a misdemeanor to
fail to provide women with all available reproductive alternatives
and to provide criminal penalties for violations.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.