By: Lucio S.B. No. 17
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a pregnant woman's completion of a resource awareness
session before performance or inducement of an abortion; providing
penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 171, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Subchapter E to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER E. RESOURCE AWARENESS SESSION
Sec. 171.101. RESOURCE AWARENESS SESSION. (a) The Health
and Human Services Commission, in consultation with the department
and the Department of Family and Protective Services, shall:
(1) develop a course of not more than three hours that
provides information regarding:
(A) a pregnant woman's option to place her child
for adoption;
(B) women's health before and during pregnancy;
and
(C) available resources for pregnant women and
their children, including:
(i) the federal special supplemental
nutrition program for women, infants, and children authorized by 42
U.S.C. Section 1786;
(ii) the supplemental nutrition assistance
program under Chapter 33, Human Resources Code; and
(iii) information on selection of a
physician;
(2) make the course available at no cost to any person
who wishes to take the course on the commission's Internet website
in English, Spanish, and any other language the executive
commissioner determines appropriate; and
(3) provide a dated certificate of completion to each
person who completes the course.
(b) Except as provided by Section 171.102, a pregnant woman
may not obtain an abortion unless the woman completes the resource
awareness session described by Subsection (a) and submits the
certificate of completion to the physician performing or inducing
the abortion. The session must be completed not more than 30 days
and not less than 24 hours before the abortion is performed or
induced.
(c) Except as provided by Section 171.102, a physician may
not perform or induce an abortion on a pregnant woman without first
receiving from the woman a certificate of completion described by
Subsection (a)(3) for a course completed by the woman in the time
authorized under Subsection (b).
(d) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human
Services Commission, in consultation with the department and the
Department of Family and Protective Services, shall adopt the rules
necessary to implement this subchapter, including rules to provide
pregnant minors with access to the resource awareness session.
Sec. 171.102. APPLICABILITY. This subchapter does not
apply to:
(1) an abortion performed or induced if there exists a
condition that, in the physician's reasonable medical judgment, so
complicates the medical condition of the woman that, to avert the
woman's death or a serious risk of substantial and irreversible
physical impairment of a major bodily function, other than a
psychological condition, it necessitates the immediate abortion of
her pregnancy;
(2) an abortion performed on a minor whose pregnancy
is a result of a sexual assault, incest, or other violation of the
Penal Code that has been reported to law enforcement authorities or
that has not been reported because she has a reason that she
declines to reveal because she reasonably believes that to do so
would put her at risk of retaliation resulting in serious bodily
injury; or
(3) an act done with the intent to:
(A) save the life or preserve the health of an
unborn child;
(B) remove a dead, unborn child whose death was
caused by spontaneous abortion;
(C) remove an ectopic pregnancy; or
(D) treat a maternal disease or illness for which
a prescribed drug, medicine, or other substance is indicated.
SECTION 2. Section 164.052(a), Occupations Code, as
effective on the 91st day after the last day of the 83rd
Legislature, 2nd Called Session, 2013, is amended to read as
follows:
(a) A physician or an applicant for a license to practice
medicine commits a prohibited practice if that person:
(1) submits to the board a false or misleading
statement, document, or certificate in an application for a
license;
(2) presents to the board a license, certificate, or
diploma that was illegally or fraudulently obtained;
(3) commits fraud or deception in taking or passing an
examination;
(4) uses alcohol or drugs in an intemperate manner
that, in the board's opinion, could endanger a patient's life;
(5) commits unprofessional or dishonorable conduct
that is likely to deceive or defraud the public, as provided by
Section 164.053, or injure the public;
(6) uses an advertising statement that is false,
misleading, or deceptive;
(7) advertises professional superiority or the
performance of professional service in a superior manner if that
advertising is not readily subject to verification;
(8) purchases, sells, barters, or uses, or offers to
purchase, sell, barter, or use, a medical degree, license,
certificate, or diploma, or a transcript of a license, certificate,
or diploma in or incident to an application to the board for a
license to practice medicine;
(9) alters, with fraudulent intent, a medical license,
certificate, or diploma, or a transcript of a medical license,
certificate, or diploma;
(10) uses a medical license, certificate, or diploma,
or a transcript of a medical license, certificate, or diploma that
has been:
(A) fraudulently purchased or issued;
(B) counterfeited; or
(C) materially altered;
(11) impersonates or acts as proxy for another person
in an examination required by this subtitle for a medical license;
(12) engages in conduct that subverts or attempts to
subvert an examination process required by this subtitle for a
medical license;
(13) impersonates a physician or permits another to
use the person's license or certificate to practice medicine in
this state;
(14) directly or indirectly employs a person whose
license to practice medicine has been suspended, canceled, or
revoked;
(15) associates in the practice of medicine with a
person:
(A) whose license to practice medicine has been
suspended, canceled, or revoked; or
(B) who has been convicted of the unlawful
practice of medicine in this state or elsewhere;
(16) performs or procures a criminal abortion, aids or
abets in the procuring of a criminal abortion, attempts to perform
or procure a criminal abortion, or attempts to aid or abet the
performance or procurement of a criminal abortion;
(17) directly or indirectly aids or abets the practice
of medicine by a person, partnership, association, or corporation
that is not licensed to practice medicine by the board;
(18) performs an abortion on a woman who is pregnant
with a viable unborn child during the third trimester of the
pregnancy unless:
(A) the abortion is necessary to prevent the
death of the woman;
(B) the viable unborn child has a severe,
irreversible brain impairment; or
(C) the woman is diagnosed with a significant
likelihood of suffering imminent severe, irreversible brain damage
or imminent severe, irreversible paralysis;
(19) performs an abortion on an unemancipated minor
without the written consent of the child's parent, managing
conservator, or legal guardian or without a court order, as
provided by Section 33.003 or 33.004, Family Code, authorizing the
minor to consent to the abortion, unless the physician concludes
that on the basis of the physician's good faith clinical judgment, a
condition exists that complicates the medical condition of the
pregnant minor and necessitates the immediate abortion of her
pregnancy to avert her death or to avoid a serious risk of
substantial impairment of a major bodily function and that there is
insufficient time to obtain the consent of the child's parent,
managing conservator, or legal guardian; [or]
(20) performs or induces or attempts to perform or
induce an abortion in violation of Subchapter C, Chapter 171,
Health and Safety Code; or
(21) performs or induces an abortion in violation of
Subchapter E, Chapter 171, Health and Safety Code.
SECTION 3. (a) The executive commissioner of the Health and
Human Services Commission shall adopt the rules required by
Subchapter E, Chapter 171, Health and Safety Code, as added by this
Act, not later than January 1, 2014.
(b) The Health and Human Services Commission shall make the
resource awareness session described by Subchapter E, Chapter 171,
Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, available on its
Internet website not later than June 1, 2014.
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an abortion performed or induced on or after July 1, 2014. An
abortion performed or induced before July 1, 2014, is governed by
the law in effect immediately before the effective date of this Act,
and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect on the 91st day after the
last day of the legislative session.