Comment on Adolescent abortion bill up for floor vote in WV House

By Erin Beck The House Judiciary Committee approved a bill Thursday that would place new restrictions on adolescent abortion in West Virginia. Lawmakers had originally introduced a bill that would no longer allow a physician to waive the parental notification requirement before an adolescent abortion. The bill, sponsored by Delegate Kayla Kessinger, R-Fayette, would have required the minor to be emancipated or go before a judge for abortion access. West Virginia law currently requires a doctor to give parents at least 24 hours notice before another doctor can perform an abortion on an adolescent, but it includes two exceptions - minors may obtain a waiver from a physician or from a judge. After a public hearing drew mostly opposition, from both sexual abuse survivors and women's health advocates, the judiciary committee sent the bill to a subcommittee for further review. Members of the subcommittee, which included Delegates Amy Summers, R- Taylor, Barbara Fleischauer, D- Monongalia, and Kessinger, amended the bill so that most physicians would no longer be able to waive parental notification, but psychiatrists, as well as licensed psychologists, would be able to do so. Thursday, the judiciary committee approved the subcommittee's amended version of the bill and sent it to the House floor for a vote.