(a) Within ninety days of the effective date of this article, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources shall prepare a reporting form for physicians containing a reprint of this article and listing:

Terms Used In West Virginia Code 16-2I-7

  • Department: means the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources: Provided, That beginning January 1, 2024, as used in this chapter, "department" and "Department of Health and Human Resources" means the Department of Health. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
  • Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. Source: OCC
  • Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. Source: Federal Reserve
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Secretary: means the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources: Provided, That beginning January 1, 2024, as used in this chapter, "secretary" means the secretary of the Department of Health. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10

(1) The number of females to whom the information described in subsection (a), section two of this article was provided;

(2) The number of females to whom the physician or an agent of the physician provided the information described in subsection (b), section two of this article;

(3) The number of females who availed themselves of the opportunity to obtain a copy of the printed information described in section three of this article other than on the website;

(4) The number of abortions performed in cases involving medical emergency; and

(5) The number of abortions performed in cases not involving a medical emergency.

(b) The secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources shall ensure that copies of the reporting forms described in subsection (a) of this section are provided:

(1) Within one hundred twenty days after the effective date of this article to all physicians licensed to practice in this state;

(2) To each physician who subsequently becomes newly licensed to practice in this state, at the same time as official notification to that physician that the physician is so licensed; and

(3) By December 1, of each year, other than the calendar year in which forms are distributed in accordance with subdivision (1) of this subsection, to all physicians licensed to practice in this state.

(c) By the twenty-eighth day of February of each year following a calendar year in any part of which this act was in effect, each physician who provided, or whose agent provided, information to one or more females in accordance with section two of this article during the previous calendar year shall submit to the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources a copy of the form described in subsection (a) of this section with the requested data entered accurately and completely.

(d) Reports that are not submitted by the end of a grace period of thirty days following the due date are subject to a late fee of $500 for each additional thirty-day period or portion of a thirty-day period they are overdue. Any physician required to report in accordance with this section who has not submitted a report, or has submitted only an incomplete report, more than one year following the due date may, in an action brought by the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources, be directed by a court of competent jurisdiction to submit a complete report within a period stated by court order or be subject to sanctions for civil contempt.

(e) By August 1, of each year, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources shall issue a public report providing statistics for the previous calendar year compiled from all of the reports covering that year submitted in accordance with this section for each of the items listed in subsection (a) of this section. Each report shall also provide the statistics for all previous calendar years, adjusted to reflect any additional information from late or corrected reports. The secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources shall prevent any of the information from being included in the public reports that could reasonably lead to the identification of any physician who performed or treated an abortion, or any female who has had an abortion, in accordance with subsection (a), (b) or (c) of this section. Any information that could reasonably lead to the identification of any physician who performed or treated an abortion, or any female who has had an abortion, in accordance with subsection (a), (b) or (c) of this section is exempt from disclosure under the freedom of information act, article one, chapter twenty-nine-b of this code.

(f) The secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources may propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code which alter the dates established by subdivision (3), subsection (b) of this section or subsection (c) or (e) of this section or consolidate the forms or reports described in this section with other forms or reports to achieve administrative convenience or fiscal savings or to reduce the burden of reporting requirements, so long as reporting forms are sent to all licensed physicians in the state at least once every year and the report described in subsection (e) of this section is issued at least once every year.