Senate Bill No. 148
(By Senators Prezioso, Yoder, Foster, Stollings, Kessler and
Hunter)
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[Introduced January 19, 2007; referred to the Committee on Health
and Human Resources.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §61-8-9 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to providing that breast feeding of
a child in public or private shall not be considered public
indecency.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §61-8-9 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8. CRIMES AGAINST CHASTITY, MORALITY AND DECENCY.
§61-8-9. Indecent exposure.
(a) A person is guilty of indecent exposure when such person
intentionally exposes his or her sex organs or anus or the sex
organs or anus of another person, or intentionally causes such
exposure by another or engages in any overt act of sexual
gratification, and does so under circumstances in which the person knows that the conduct is likely to cause affront or alarm:
Provided, That it is not considered indecent exposure for a mother
to breast-feed a child in any location, public or private, where
the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be.
(b) Any person who violates the provisions of this section
shall be is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be confined in the county jail not more than ninety days, or
fined not more than two hundred fifty dollars and confined in the
county jail not more than ninety days.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that breast
feeding in public shall not be considered public indecency.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.