The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part of the
legislative instrument, were prepared by Alden A. Clement Jr.
DIGEST
SB 184 Original 2019 Regular Session Milkovich
Proposed law provides that it is unlawful for any person to knowingly perform an abortion with the
specific intent of causing or abetting the termination of the life of an unborn human being when a
fetal heartbeat has been detected.
Proposed law provides that a person is not in violation of proposed law under either of the following
circumstances, but must note in the pregnant woman's medical records which of the exceptions the
person performing the abortion has invoked:
(1)The person performs a medical procedure designed to or intended, in that person's reasonable
medical judgment, to prevent the death of a pregnant woman or to prevent a serious risk of
the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant
woman. The person must declare in writing, under penalty of perjury, that the medical
procedure was necessary, to the best of that person's reasonable medical judgment, to prevent
the death of the pregnant woman or to prevent a serious risk of the substantial and
irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman. The person must
also provide in that written statement the specific medical condition of the pregnant woman
that the medical procedure was performed to address, and the medical rationale for the
conclusion that the medical procedure was necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant
woman or to prevent a serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major
bodily function of the pregnant woman. The written documentation required by proposed
law must be placed in the pregnant woman's medical records, and a copy maintained for at
least seven years.
(2)The person has performed an examination for the presence of a fetal heartbeat in the unborn
human individual using standard medical practice and that examination does not reveal a
fetal heartbeat, or the person has been informed by a physician who has performed the
examination for a fetal heartbeat that the examination did not reveal a fetal heartbeat.
Proposed law provides the following definitions:
(1)"Fetal heartbeat" means cardiac activity or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of
the fetal heart within the gestational sac.
(2)"Physician" means an individual licensed by the Louisiana State Board of Medical
Examiners.
(3)"Unborn human being" means an individual living member of the species Homo sapiens
throughout the entire embryonic and fetal stages, from fertilization through full gestation and birth.
Proposed law provides that whoever violates the provisions of proposed law is to be prosecuted
pursuant to the effective provisions of present law relative to criminal abortion and is to be fined up
to $1,000 per incidence or occurrence, or imprisoned for up to two years, or both, in accordance with
the penalties contained in present law relative to unlawful abortion.
Proposed law provides that, in addition to any other grounds provided by law, it will be grounds for
the nonissuance, suspension, revocation, or restriction of a license, or the denial of reinstatement or
renewal of a license, issued by the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners, that the applicant
or licensee has performed an abortion in violation of proposed law.
Proposed law provides that proposed law cannot be construed to repeal any other provision of
present law that restricts or regulates the performance of an abortion by a particular method or during
a particular stage of a pregnancy.
Proposed law provides that the provisions of proposed law are repealed in favor of the provisions
of present law banning all elective abortions immediately upon and to the extent that either:
(1)A decision of the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the authority of each of the several states of
the United States or Louisiana to prohibit elective abortions.
(2)An amendment to the U.S. Constitution is adopted that restores to each of the several states
of the United States or to Louisiana the authority to prohibit elective abortions.
Effective upon signature of the governor or lapse of time for gubernatorial action.
(Adds R.S. 40:1061.1.3)