H. B. 2529
(By Delegates Leach,
Yeager,
Facemyer, Hubbard and Compton)
[Introduced March 13, 1997; referred to the
Committee on Health and Human Resources then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend article two, chapter sixty-one of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
eight-a, relating to requiring medical providers to test
females for drugs who give birth to stillborns who are
thirty-six weeks or more into pregnancy; providing a
criminal penalty for females who test positive; exception.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two, chapter sixty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
eight-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.
§61-2-8a. Requiring medical providers to test females who give
birth to stillborns who are thirty-six weeks or more
into pregnancy; establishing a criminal offense, penalty.
(a) Any health care provider who examines or renders medical
treatment to a female who has given birth to a stillborn of
thirty-six weeks or more into pregnancy, must test the female
with conventional drug testing accepted by approved medical
standards within twelve hours after the birth of the stillborn to
determine if the female is positive for the use of controlled
substance as defined by chapter sixty-a of the code.
(b) Any mother who tests positive for controlled substance
pursuant to subsection (a) above, is guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than five
hundred dollars, or confined in a county or regional jail for not
more than twelve months, or both fined and confined. It is a bar
to prosecution if the female possesses a valid prescription or
order of a licensed practitioner for the controlled substance to
which she tested positive.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require medical
providers to tests females for drug use who have given birth to
stillborns and who are more than thirty-six weeks into pregnancy.
It establishes a criminal offense for females who test positive.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.