By: Paxton S.B. No. 34
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a required resource access assistance offer before an
abortion is performed or induced.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 171, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 171.01205 to read as follows:
Sec. 171.01205. REQUIRED PRE-ABORTION RESOURCE ACCESS
ASSISTANCE OFFER. (a) In addition to the informed consent
requirements under Section 171.012, except during a medical
emergency, and before the abortion is performed or induced, the
physician who is to perform or induce an abortion shall confirm the
pregnant woman received a resource access assistance offer, as
required by this section, by verifying the unique identifying
number, devoid of the woman's personally identifiable information,
as provided by the commission.
(b) A care agent providing a resource access assistance
offer under this section:
(1) must be:
(A) licensed in this state as a counselor,
physician, psychologist, social worker, nurse, advanced practice
registered nurse, community health worker, physician's assistant,
or marriage and family therapist; or
(B) acting under the supervision of an individual
described by Paragraph (A);
(2) must:
(A) be authorized under a contract with the
commission to provide resource access assistance offers and support
services on behalf of this state in accordance with this section;
(B) complete a training program on identifying
and assisting victims of human trafficking using a standardized
curriculum created by the human trafficking prevention task force
established under Section 402.035, Government Code; and
(C) comply with medical records privacy laws
under Chapter 181;
(3) in the two years preceding the offer may not:
(A) have performed or induced an abortion; or
(B) have served as a director, board member,
officer, volunteer, or employee for an abortion facility licensed
under Chapter 245; and
(4) may not refer a woman to an abortion provider.
(c) The resource access assistance offer must be provided by
and on behalf of this state at no cost to the pregnant woman from a
care agent who meets the qualifications described by Subsection
(b). The care agent during the resource access assistance offer
shall provide:
(1) medically accurate information using the
informational materials described by Section 171.014;
(2) an assessment of eligibility for and offer of
assistance in obtaining support services other than abortion for
the woman or unborn child's biological father, including housing,
employment, resume development, child care, prenatal and
postpartum medical care, mental health or behavioral counseling,
adoption services, financial assistance, abuse or neglect
prevention assistance, substance or alcohol abuse prevention
assistance, and health benefit plan coverage;
(3) education on available public and private
resources to address the woman's or biological father's
socioeconomic needs; and
(4) screening for:
(A) family violence, abuse, and neglect
victimization;
(B) coercion of abortion; and
(C) human trafficking victimization.
(d) A care agent who obtains information that the pregnant
woman is a victim of human trafficking or coercion of abortion may:
(1) submit a report to the appropriate law enforcement
agency of the suspected human trafficking or coercion of abortion,
if, before submitting the report, the care agent:
(A) provides to the pregnant woman a written
disclosure that the woman's identifying information will be
provided in the report; and
(B) after receiving the written disclosure
described by Paragraph (A), the pregnant woman consents to the care
agent submitting the report; or
(2) provide to the pregnant woman information on the
methods available for the woman to report human trafficking or
coercion of abortion to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
(e) A care agent shall request a unique identifying number,
devoid of the pregnant woman's personally identifiable
information, from the system developed by the commission to certify
that the woman received the resource access assistance offer.
(f) The commission shall develop and maintain an
authentication system that provides the pregnant woman a unique
identifying number required under this section. The system must:
(1) allow a care agent to request a unique identifying
number for the pregnant woman;
(2) allow a physician who is to perform or induce an
abortion to verify the unique identifying number;
(3) ensure that the identity of an individual pregnant
woman, care agent, or physician, who is to perform or induce the
abortion, is not disclosed in the authentication system; and
(4) remove any individually identifying information
of the pregnant woman, care agent, or physician as soon as the
information is not needed to verify the unique identifying number.
(g) The commission shall establish a single toll-free
telephone number through which a woman seeking an abortion in this
state may receive a resource access assistance offer on a 24-hour
basis. The commission must ensure the placed call automatically
routes the woman to a care agent at a contracting agency to provide
the resource access assistance offer.
(h) The pregnant woman:
(1) is not required to:
(A) provide any information to the care agent or
contracting agency; or
(B) initiate or complete services offered under
this section to obtain an abortion;
(2) may decline services under this section at any
time; and
(3) if accepting a resource assistance offer, shall
retain access to the offer until the second anniversary of the date
of acceptance, regardless of the woman's pregnancy.
SECTION 2. Section 171.0121, Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 171.0121. MEDICAL RECORD. (a) Before the abortion
begins, a copy of the signed, written certification received by the
physician under Section 171.012(a)(6) and documentation of the
receipt of the resource access assistance offer required under
Section 171.01205 must be placed in the pregnant woman's medical
records.
(b) A copy of the signed, written certification required
under Sections 171.012(a)(5) and (6) and documentation of the
receipt of the resource access assistance offer required under
Section 171.01205 shall be retained by the facility where the
abortion is performed until:
(1) the seventh anniversary of the date it is signed;
or
(2) if the pregnant woman is a minor, the later of:
(A) the seventh anniversary of the date it is
signed; or
(B) the woman's 21st birthday.
SECTION 3. (a) Notwithstanding Section 171.01205, Health
and Safety Code, as added by this Act, and Section 171.0121, Health
and Safety Code, as amended by this Act, a physician is not required
to comply with the changes in law made by this Act before April 1,
2023.
(b) Not later than August 31, 2022, the executive
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall
adopt rules as necessary to implement this Act.
(c) Not later than April 1, 2023, the Health and Human
Services Commission shall contract with one or more contracting
agencies that employ care agents throughout this state to provide
the pre-abortion resource access assistance offer and assistance in
obtaining support services described by Section 171.01205, Health
and Safety Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
an abortion performed or induced on or after April 1, 2023. An
abortion performed or induced before April 1, 2023, is governed by
the law applicable to the abortion immediately before the effective
date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 5. It is the intent of the legislature that every
provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word
in this Act, and every application of the provisions in this Act to
each person or entity, are severable from each other. If any
application of any provision in this Act to any person, group of
persons, or circumstances is found by a court to be invalid for any
reason, the remaining applications of that provision to all other
persons and circumstances shall be severed and may not be affected.
SECTION 6. The Health and Human Services Commission is
required to implement this Act only if the legislature appropriates
money specifically for that purpose. If the legislature does not
appropriate money specifically for that purpose, the commission
may, but is not required to, implement the Act using other
appropriations available for the purpose.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect on the 91st day after the
last day of the legislative session.