Senate Bill No. 54
(By Senators Hall, Barnes and Sypolt)
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[Introduced February 11, 2009; referred to the Committee on
Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §16-5-20a, relating
to requiring the collection of statistics relative to
abortions performed in the state.
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 §16-5-20a, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 5. VITAL STATISTICS.
§16-5-20a. Aborted fetus registration.
(a) A fetal death certificate for each fetal death caused by
abortion which occurs in this state shall be filed with the local
registrar of the registration district in which the abortion occurs
within three days after the abortion and prior to removal or disposal of the fetus, and shall be registered with the registrar.
The medical practitioner responsible for the performance of the
abortion is responsible to provide the following information to be
recorded in accordance with the provisions of this section: (1)
The gestational age of the fetus; (2) the county of residence of
the mother; (3) the age of the mother; (4) the type of abortion
performed; (5) the cost of the abortion and whether it was
performed at public expense; (6) the method of disposal of the
remains; and (7) whether birth defects were known, and if so, what
birth defects.
(b) Each local registrar shall provide the data collected
under this section to the Director of the Division of Health, who
shall compile same for publication.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the collection of
statistics relative to abortions performed in the state.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.