85R585 KKR-F
By: Schaefer H.B. No. 87
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the regulation of abortion procedures.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 170.002(b) and (c), Health and Safety
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(b) Subsection (a) does not prohibit a person from
performing an abortion if at the time of the abortion the person is
a physician and concludes in good faith according to the
physician's best medical judgment that:
(1) the fetus is not a viable fetus and the pregnancy
is not in the third trimester; or
(2) the abortion is necessary to prevent the death or a
substantial risk of serious impairment to the physical or mental
health of the woman[; or
[(3) the fetus has a severe and irreversible
abnormality, identified by reliable diagnostic procedures].
(c) A physician who performs an abortion that, according to
the physician's best medical judgment at the time of the abortion,
is to abort a viable unborn child during the third trimester of the
pregnancy shall certify in writing to the department, on a form
prescribed by the department, the medical indications supporting
the physician's judgment that the abortion was authorized by
Subsection (b)(2) [or (3)]. The certification must be made not
later than the 30th day after the date the abortion was performed.
SECTION 2. Section 171.042, Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 171.042. DEFINITION [DEFINITIONS]. In this
subchapter, [:
[(1)] "post-fertilization [Post-fertilization] age"
means the age of the unborn child as calculated from the fusion of a
human spermatozoon with a human ovum.
[(2) "Severe fetal abnormality" has the meaning
assigned by Section 285.202.]
SECTION 3. Section 285.202(a), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) In this section, "medical emergency" means[:
[(1)] a condition exists that, in a physician's good
faith clinical judgment, complicates the medical condition of the
pregnant woman 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[; or
[(2) the fetus has a severe fetal abnormality].
SECTION 4. Sections 171.046(c) and 285.202(a-1), Health and
Safety Code, are repealed.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2017.