SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 14
(By Senators Smith and Weeks)
[Introduced February 17, 2003; referred to the committee on the
Judiciary.]
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West
Virginia, amending article VI thereof by adding thereto a new
section, designated section fifty-seven, relating to providing
that the Constitution of West Virginia does not grant, offer,
confer, bestow or imply a right of a woman to an abortion;
numbering and designating such proposed of amendment; and
providing a summarized statement of the purpose of such
proposed amendment.
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia, two thirds of
the members elected to each house agreeing thereto:
That the question of ratification or rejection of an amendment
to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia be submitted to
the voters of the state at the next general election to be held in
the year two thousand four, which proposed amendment is that article VI thereof be amended by adding thereto a new section,
designated section fifty-seven, to read as follows:
ARTICLE VI. THE LEGISLATURE.
§57. Abortion not authorized under any provision of this
Constitution.
No provision of this constitution may be construed or
interpreted to grant, offer, confer, bestow or imply a right to an
abortion.
Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of
article eleven, chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, such proposed
amendment is hereby numbered "Amendment No. 1" and designated as
the "Amendment stating that the West Virginia Constitution does not
grant a right to an abortion" and the purpose of the proposed
amendment is summarized as follows: "To clarify that the West
Virginia Constitution does not provide a right for an abortion."
NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to amend the State
Constitution to clarify that the Constitution does not provide a
right for an abortion
.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.