81R10257 SJM-D
By: Coleman H.B. No. 2968
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to voluntary and informed consent for an abortion.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 171.012(a), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) Except in the case of a medical emergency, consent to an
abortion is voluntary and informed only if:
(1) the physician who is to perform the abortion or the
referring physician informs the woman on whom the abortion is to be
performed of:
(A) the name of the physician who will perform
the abortion;
(B) the particular medical risks associated with
the particular abortion procedure to be employed, including, when
medically accurate:
(i) the risks of infection and hemorrhage;
and
(ii) the potential danger to a subsequent
pregnancy and of infertility; [and
[(iii) the possibility of increased risk of
breast cancer following an induced abortion and the natural
protective effect of a completed pregnancy in avoiding breast
cancer;]
(C) the probable gestational age of the unborn
child at the time the abortion is to be performed; and
(D) the medical risks associated with carrying
the child to term;
(2) the physician who is to perform the abortion or the
physician's agent informs the woman that:
(A) medical assistance benefits may be available
for prenatal care, childbirth, and neonatal care;
(B) the father is liable for assistance in the
support of the child without regard to whether the father has
offered to pay for the abortion;
(C) public and private agencies provide
pregnancy prevention counseling and medical referrals for
obtaining pregnancy prevention medications or devices, including
emergency contraception for victims of rape or incest; and
(D) the woman has the right to review the printed
materials described by Section 171.014, that those materials have
been provided by the [Texas] Department of State Health Services
and are accessible on an Internet website sponsored by the
department, and that the materials describe the unborn child and
list agencies that offer alternatives to abortion;
(3) the woman certifies in writing before the abortion
is performed that the information described by Subdivisions (1) and
(2) has been provided to her and that she has been informed of her
opportunity to review the information described by Section 171.014;
and
(4) before the abortion is performed, the physician
who is to perform the abortion receives a copy of the written
certification required by Subdivision (3).
SECTION 2. (a) Not later than December 1, 2009, the
Department of State Health Services shall:
(1) revise the informational materials the department
is required to publish under Section 171.014, Health and Safety
Code; and
(2) make the materials available for distribution.
(b) The changes in law made by this Act apply only to the
abortion information a physician is required to provide under
Section 171.012, Health and Safety Code, on or after January 1,
2010.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.