H. B. 2171
(By Delegate Huffman)
[Introduced February 18, 1993; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section eight, article two, chapter
sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact
section five, article nine, chapter sixty-two of said code,
all relating to the felony offense of abortion, defining
criminal abortion to be the unlawful and intentional
destruction of a viable fetus in the third trimester of
pregnancy and providing criminal penalties and form of
indictment for same.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eight, article two, chapter sixty-one of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section five, article
nine, chapter sixty-two of said code be amended and reenacted,
all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 61. CRIMES AND THEIR PUNISHMENT.
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.
§61-2-8. Abortion; penalty.
Any person who shall administer to, or cause to be taken by,
a woman, any drug or other thing, or use any means, with intent
to destroy her unborn child a viable fetus in the third trimester
of pregnancy, or to produce abortion or miscarriage of a viable
fetus in the third trimester of pregnancy, and shall thereby
destroy such child fetus, or produce such abortion or
miscarriage, shall be guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction,
shall be confined in the penitentiary not less than three nor
more than ten years; and if such woman die by reason of such
abortion performed upon her, such person shall be guilty of
murder. No person, by reason of any act mentioned in this
section, shall be punishable where such act is done in good
faith, with the intention of saving the life of such woman or
child fetus.
CHAPTER 62. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE.
ARTICLE 9. FORMS OF INDICTMENTS.
§62-9-5. Indictment for abortion.
An indictment for abortion shall be sufficient if it be in
form, tenor or effect as follows (after following the form in
section one):
That A................, on the ........... day of
..........., nineteen ..............., in the said county of
.............., did feloniously, wilfully and unlawfully
administer to and cause to be taken by one B............., a
female person, who was then and there pregnant with child in thethird trimester of pregnancy, a certain drug (or thing) commonly
called (name the drug or thing) .............. (or the name and
character of which is to the grand jurors aforesaid unknown) (or
did feloniously, wilfully and unlawfully employ and use upon the
body and womb of one B..............., a female person, who was
then and there pregnant with child in the third trimester of
pregnancy, a certain instrument called ..............) (or the
name and character of which instrument is to the grand jurors
aforesaid unknown) (or did feloniously, wilfully and unlawfully
employ and use upon the body of one B................, a female
person, who was then and there pregnant with child in the third
trimester of pregnancy, certain means (describe the means used)
(or the character and description of which are to the grand
jurors aforesaid unknown), with intent then and there to destroy
such unborn child the unborn viable fetus of the said
B..............., and to produce the abortion and miscarriage of
the said B...............; and that the said A............, then
and there and by the means aforesaid did feloniously, wilfully
and unlawfully destroy such unborn child fetus and produce such
abortion and miscarriage of the said B..............., the same
not being then and there done by the said A.................., in
good faith with the intention of saving the life of said
B................ or that of her said unborn child fetus, against
the peace and dignity of the State.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for the felony
offense of abortion and to define same to be the unlawful and
intentional destruction of a viable fetus in the third trimester
of pregnancy.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.