The Senate Health and Human Resources Committee has approved a bill that would modify the law requiring parental notification of abortions performed on unemancipated minors.
The bill, HB 2002 would more specifically provide a judicial waiver process for bypassing parental notification.
Margaret Chapman Pomponio of WV Free said four women used a physician waiver in 2015. She added that the number of waivers is always low, since this state has one of the highest parental involvement rates in abortions.
Over 30 states require parental involvement in some form.
Senator Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, made a strike-and-insert amendment to make several adjustments to the bill to remove maturity evaluation provisions, restore the original notification requirement of within 48 hours from the proposed 24 hours, change the definition of “unempancipated minor,” among other modifications.
The bill will be referenced to Senate Judiciary once reported.
