Bill Text: NY S00931 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Prohibits health care practitioners from performing a virginity examination or supervising the performance of a virginity examination on a patient; defines "virginity examination".
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-31 - PRINT NUMBER 931A [S00931 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-S00931-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 931--A 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 9, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sens. PERSAUD, FERNANDEZ, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, JACKSON, KRUEGER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Women's Issues -- recommitted to the Committee on Women's Issues in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to prohibiting virginity examinations The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Legislative Intent: Virginity examinations are gynecologi- 2 cal examinations of the female genitalia purported to establish whether 3 a female has had vaginal intercourse by correlating the absence of the 4 hymen or vaginal wall laxity with sexual activity. Reproductive experts 5 contend that there is no scientific merit or clinical indication for 6 this type of examination, as these characteristics do not definitively 7 prove that a female has had intercourse. Experts also note that there 8 are significant adverse psychological and physical consequences for 9 individuals who have been subjected to these tests. Numerous organiza- 10 tions, including the World Health Organization, United Nations Human 11 Rights Office, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and 12 International Society for Sexual Medicine have called for the elimi- 13 nation of virginity examinations as they are not medically indicated or 14 valid procedures, and their performance violates the human rights of the 15 individual subject to the test. It is the intent of the legislature to 16 recognize that gynecological examinations purported to determine whether 17 a female has had vaginal intercourse have no scientific merit, are not 18 medically indicated, and cause psychological and physical trauma for the 19 recipient; and as such, health care practitioners licensed by and prac- 20 ticing in the state of New York should be prohibited from conducting or 21 supervising these examinations. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01726-03-4S. 931--A 2 1 § 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 267-b to 2 read as follows: 3 § 267-b. Prohibition of virginity examinations. 1. For purposes of 4 this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings: 5 (a) "Virginity examination" shall mean any physical gynecological exam 6 or inspection of the female genitalia purported to determine whether a 7 female has previously had vaginal intercourse. 8 (b) "Health care practitioner" means a health care practitioner 9 licensed, certified or otherwise authorized to practice under title 10 eight of the education law, acting within the practitioner's lawful 11 scope of practice. 12 2. No health care practitioner shall perform a virginity examination 13 or supervise the performance of a virginity examination on a patient. 14 3. This section shall not apply to any physical gynecological examina- 15 tion conducted as part of a forensic medical examination. 16 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
