By: Bowers H.B. No. 1986
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the regulation of abortion, including abortion
complication reporting and the repeal of certain laws prohibiting
abortion.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 171.006(a) and (b), Health and Safety
Code, as added by Chapter 4 (H.B. 13), Acts of the 85th Legislature,
1st Called Session, 2017, are amended to read as follows:
(a) In this section, "abortion complication" means any
harmful event or adverse outcome with respect to a patient related
to an abortion that is performed on the patient and that is
diagnosed or treated by a health care practitioner or at a health
care facility and includes:
(1) shock;
(2) uterine perforation;
(3) cervical laceration;
(4) hemorrhage;
(5) aspiration or allergic response;
(6) infection;
(7) sepsis;
(8) death of the patient;
(9) incomplete abortion;
(10) damage to the uterus; or
(11) an infant born alive after the abortion
(b) The reporting requirements of this section apply only
to:
(1) a physician who:
(A) performs at an abortion facility an abortion
that results in an abortion complication diagnosed or treated by
that physician; or
(B) diagnoses or treats at an abortion facility
an abortion complication that is the result of an abortion
performed by another physician at the facility; or
(2) a health care facility that is a hospital,
abortion facility, freestanding emergency medical care facility,
or health care facility that provides emergency medical care, as
defined by Section 773.003.
SECTION 2. Section 171.061, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subdivision (3) and amending Subdivision (8-a) to
read as follows:
(3) "Final printed label" means the informational
document approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration
for an abortion-inducing drug that:
(A) outlines the protocol authorized by that
agency and agreed to by the drug company applying for authorization
of the drug by that agency; and
(B) delineates the manner in which a drug is to be
used according to approval by that agency.
(8-a) "Provide" means, as used with regard to
abortion-inducing drugs, any act of giving, selling, dispensing,
administering, or otherwise providing or prescribing an
abortion-inducing drug.
SECTION 3. Section 171.063, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (a), (c), and (e) and adding
Subsection (b) to read as follows:
(a) A person may not knowingly provide an abortion-inducing
drug to a pregnant woman for the purpose of inducing an abortion in
the pregnant woman or enabling another person to induce an abortion
in the pregnant woman unless:
(1) the person who provides the abortion-inducing drug
is a physician; and
(2) except as otherwise provided by Subsection (b),
the provision of the abortion-inducing drug satisfies the protocol
tested and authorized by the United States Food and Drug
Administration as outlined in the final printed label of the
abortion-inducing drug.
(b) A person may provide the abortion-inducing drug in the
dosage amount prescribed by the clinical management guidelines
defined by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Practice Bulletin as those guidelines existed on January 1, 2013.
(c) Before the physician provides an abortion-inducing
drug, the physician must:
(1) examine the pregnant woman; and
(2) document, in the woman's medical record, the
gestational age and intrauterine location of the pregnancy
(d) A physician who provides the abortion-inducing drug, or
the physician's agent, must schedule a follow-up visit for the
woman to occur not later than the 14th day after the administration
or use of the abortion-inducing drug. At the follow-up visit, the
physician must:
(1) confirm that the woman's pregnancy is completely
terminated; and
(2) assess any continued blood loss.
SECTION 4. Section 171.206(b), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) This subchapter may not be construed to:
(1) authorize the initiation of a cause of action
against or the prosecution of a woman on whom an abortion is
performed or induced or attempted to be performed or induced in
violation of this subchapter;
(2) wholly or partly repeal, either expressly or by
implication, any other statute that regulates or prohibits
abortion; or
(3) restrict a political subdivision from regulating
or prohibiting abortion in a manner that is at least as stringent as
the laws of this state.
SECTION 5. Section 171.207(b), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) Subsection (a) may not be construed to:
(1) legalize the conduct prohibited by this
subchapter;
(2) limit in any way or affect the availability of a
remedy established by Section 171.208; or
(3) limit the enforceability of any other laws that
regulate or prohibit abortion.
SECTION 6. The following provisions are repealed:
(1) Chapter 170A, Health and Safety Code;
(2) Section 171.061(2-a), Health and Safety Code;
(3) Section 171.063(b-1), Health and Safety Code;
(4) Section 171.0631, Health and Safety Code;
(5) Section 171.0632, Health and Safety Code;
(6) Section 171.065, Health and Safety Code;
(7) Section 171.066, Health and Safety Code; and
(8) Chapter 6-1/2, Title 71, Revised Statutes.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.