H. B. 4334
(By Delegate J. Miller)
[Introduced January 30, 2008; referred to the
Committee on Health and Human Resources then 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 reporting requirements for physicians and the Department of
Health and Human Resources when it is suspected that a woman
has suffered injury or death due to an induced abortion;
contents of the reports; duties of the department; and
penalties.
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. Reporting requirements when it is suspected that a
woman suffered injury or death due to induced
abortion; contents; physician duties; department duties; penalties.
(a) A physician shall file a written report with the
Department of Health and Human Resources regarding each patient who
comes under the physician's professional care and requires physical
medical treatment or suffers death that the attending physician has
a reasonable basis to believe is a primary, secondary or tertiary
result of an induced abortion.
(b) The report shall be submitted within thirty days of the
discharge or death of the patient treated for the complication, and
shall contain all the following information that is available to
the physician:
(1) The patient's age and race;
(2) The patient's residency status, including city and county
of residence;
(3) The patient's marital status, education, number of
previous pregnancies, number of stillbirths, number of living
children and number of previous abortions;
(4) The date the abortion was performed and the method used if
known;
(5) The approximate gestational age, in weeks, of the aborted
fetus;
(6) The date on which the abortion complication was diagnosed;
(7) The name and type of facility where the abortion was
performed;
(8) Whether the physician performing an induced abortion has
been subject to license revocation or suspension or other
professional sanction;
(9) The condition of the patient that led to treatment,
including, but not limited to, pelvic infection, hemorrhage, damage
to pelvic organs, renal failure, metabolic disorder, shock,
embolism, coma or death;
(10) The type of anesthetic, if any, used for each induced
abortion; and
(11) The amount billed to cover the treatment of the
complication, including whether under: (A) A fee-for-service
insurance company; (B) a managed care company; or (C) another type
of health benefit.
(c) The physician report shall not contain the name of the
woman, common identifiers such as her social security number or
motor vehicle operator's license number, or other information or
identifiers that would make it possible to identify in any manner
or under any circumstances an individual who has obtained or seeks
to obtain an abortion.
(d) With respect to these reports, the department shall have
the following duties:
(1) Summarize aggregate data from the physician reports
required under this section for purposes of inclusion in an annual
report;
(2) Develop and distribute or make available online in a
downloadable format a standardized form for the physician report;
(3) Communicate this reporting requirement to all medical
professional organizations, licensed physicians, hospitals,
emergency rooms, abortion facilities, department clinics and
ambulatory surgical facilities operating in the state; and
(4) Maintain each physician report for five years from the
date of its receipt, and thereafter shall destroy the report.
(e) The department shall not maintain statistical data that
may reveal the identity of a woman obtaining or seeking to obtain
an abortion, nor shall the department or any department employee
disclose to a person or entity outside the department the reports
or the contents of the reports required under this section in a
manner or fashion as to permit the person or entity to whom the
report is disclosed to identify in any way the person who is the
subject of the report.
(f) No state agency or employee thereof shall compare the data
collected under this section with data in another electronic or
other information system that would result in revealing in any
manner or under any circumstances the identity of a woman obtaining
or seeking to obtain an abortion.
(g) Nothing in this section shall be construed as an
instruction to discontinue collecting data currently being
collected.
(h) Violations of the provisions of the section are subject to
the following penalties:
(1) Except as provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection,
willful violation of the provisions of this section shall
constitute a misdemeanor which, upon conviction, shall be punished
by imprisonment of not more than one year nor less than six months,
by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars nor less than five
hundred dollars, or both.
(2) Disclosure of confidential identifying information in
violation of this section shall constitute a felony which, upon
conviction, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than
three years, or a fine of not more than five thousand dollars, or
both.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require physicians to
report to the Department of Health and Human Resources when he or
she believes that a woman has suffered injury or death due to an
induced abortion, to impose duties on the Department of Health and
Human Resources regarding these reports and to outline penalties
for violations.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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