West Virginia Bill Regarding Parental Notification of Unemancipated Minors (HB 2002)

This law was last updated on Jul 11, 2017

State

West Virginia

Number

HB 2002

Status

Current

Proposed

Feb 20, 2017

Topics

Parental Involvement, Physicians Reporting Requirements

Full Bill Text

www.legis.state.wv.us

HB 2002 would prohibit a physician from performing an abortion upon an unemancipated minor or upon an individual who has been appointed a guardian or conservator due to the individual’s incompetency until 48 hours have passed following the delivery of written notice of the pending abortion, except in the case of a medical emergency.

The bill would require the notice to be delivered to the parent of the unemancipated minor or the guardian or conservator at their usual place of residence and to be delivered personally by the physician or their agent, or via certified mail.

Notice may be waived if the person entitled to notice certifies in writing that he or she has been notified.

The bill would amend certain procedures related to obtaining a waiver of notification and petitioning the court.

Reporting Requirements

The bill would require additional information to be included on physician reporting forms. Such forms would be required to contain:

The number of unemancipated minors for whom notice was required;
The number of notices which were delivered personally and the number of notices which were delivered by mail;
Following the notice, the number of unemancipated minors who, based upon the physician’s information and belief, obtained an abortion;
The number of abortions performed without providing notification and, of these, the number of abortions performed on emancipated minors and the number of abortions performed due to a medical emergency;
The number of abortions performed upon an unemancipated minor without parental notification following a wavier being granted; and
The number of abortions performed upon an individual who has had a guardian or conservator appointed for them.

Statistical Report

The bill would require the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources to prepare an annual report by the last of June of each year containing a statistical analysis of the information compiled from physician reports, and data on the number of petitions or motions filed with the court.

Related Legislation

Similar to SB 424.

STATUS

Passed the house on March 28, 2017, by a 98-0 vote.

Passed the senate on April 8, 2017, by a 28-6 vote.

Final passage in the house on April 8, 2017, by a 82-17 vote.

Signed by Gov. Jim Justice (D) on April 26, 2017.