Bill Text: MI HB4212 | 2009-2010 | 95th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Health; abortion; partial-birth abortions; prohibit. Amends 1931 PA 328 (MCL 750.1 - 750.568) by adding sec. 90h.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 19-6)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-02-11 - Printed Bill Filed 02/11/2009 [HB4212 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2009-HB4212-Introduced.html

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HOUSE BILL No. 4212

 

February 10, 2009, Introduced by Reps. Sheltrown, Slezak, Daley, Lund, Calley, Haveman, Terry Brown, Spade, Proos, Tyler, Booher, Genetski, LeBlanc, Opsommer, Walsh, Meekhof, Elsenheimer, Kowall, Kurtz, Denby, Moss, Rick Jones, Amash, Agema and Mayes and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

     A bill to amend 1931 PA 328, entitled

 

"The Michigan penal code,"

 

(MCL 750.1 to 750.568) by adding section 90h.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 90h. (1) This section shall be known and may be cited as

 

the "partial-birth abortion ban act".

 

     (2) The legislature finds all of the following:

 

     (a) That partial-birth abortions pose serious risks to the

 

health of a woman, no credible medical evidence exists that

 

partial-birth abortions are safe, and partial-birth abortions are

 

never medically necessary to preserve the health of the mother.

 

     (b) That the state has a compelling interest in preserving and

 

protecting the life of the mother and the child by prohibiting

 

partial-birth abortions.

 

     (c) That a prominent medical association has determined that a

 

partial-birth abortion is not an accepted medical practice, is

 

broadly disfavored by medical experts and the public, and is

 

ethically wrong and never the only appropriate procedure; and that

 

a partial-birth abortion has never been subject to even a minimal

 

amount of the normal medical practice development, and therefore

 

the relative advantages and disadvantages of the partial-birth

 

procedure in specific circumstances remain unknown and no consensus

 

exists among obstetricians about the performance of partial-birth

 

abortions.

 

     (d) That the physician who is credited with developing the

 

partial-birth abortion procedure has testified that he has never

 

encountered a situation where a partial-birth abortion was

 

medically necessary to preserve the health of a woman.

 

     (e) That a ban on partial-birth abortions will advance the

 

health interests of pregnant women seeking to terminate a

 

pregnancy.

 

     (f) That based on Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey, a

 

governmental interest in protecting the life of a child during the

 

delivery process arises because a partial-birth abortion involves

 

the inducement of labor and the beginning of the birth process.

 

This distinction was recognized in Roe when the court noted,

 

without comment, that the Texas parturition statute, which

 

prohibited one from killing a child in a state of being born and

 

before actual birth, was not under attack. This interest becomes

 

compelling as the child emerges from the maternal body. A child

 

that is completely born is a full, legal person entitled to

 

constitutional protections afforded a person. Partial-birth

 

abortions involve the killing of a child that is in the process of

 

being born, in fact mere inches away from becoming a person. Thus,

 

the government has a heightened interest in protecting the life of

 

a partially born child.

 

     (g) That, according to a prominent medical association, a

 

partial-birth abortion is ethically different from other abortion

 

procedures because a partial-birth abortion normally involves the

 

killing of a fetus that has completed at least 20 weeks of

 

gestation outside of the womb. In light of the findings in

 

subdivision (f), the partial delivery of a fetus gives the fetus an

 

autonomy which separates it from the right of a woman to choose

 

treatments for her own body.

 

     (h) That a partial-birth abortion confuses the medical, legal,

 

and ethical duties of a physician to preserve and promote life. By

 

performing a partial-birth abortion, the physician acts directly

 

against his or her duties to preserve and promote the life of a

 

child, whom he or she had just delivered, all but the head, out of

 

the womb, in order to end that life.

 

     (i) That, by aborting a child in the manner that purposefully

 

seeks to kill the child after he or she has begun the process of

 

birth, a partial-birth abortion procedure undermines the public's

 

perception of the appropriate role of a physician during the

 

delivery process and perverts a process during which life is

 

brought into the world, in order to destroy a partially born child.

 

     (j) That the gruesome and inhumane nature of the partial-birth

 

abortion procedure and its disturbing similarity to the killing of

 

a newborn infant promotes a complete disregard for infant human

 

life that can only be countered by a prohibition of the partial-

 

birth abortion procedure.

 

     (3) Except as provided in subsection (4), a physician, an

 

individual performing an act, task, or function under the

 

delegatory authority of a physician, or any other individual who is

 

not a physician or not otherwise legally authorized to perform an

 

abortion who knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and kills

 

a human fetus is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for

 

not more than 2 years or a fine of not more than $50,000.00, or

 

both.

 

     (4) It is not a violation of subsection (3) if in the

 

physician's reasonable medical judgment a partial-birth abortion is

 

necessary to save the life of a mother whose life is endangered by

 

a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury.

 

     (5) The spouse of the mother at the time of the partial-birth

 

abortion or either parent of the mother if the mother had not

 

attained the age of 18 at the time of the partial-birth abortion

 

may file a civil action against the physician or individual

 

described in subsection (3) for a violation of this section unless

 

the pregnancy is a result of the plaintiff's criminal conduct or

 

the plaintiff consented to the partial-birth abortion. A plaintiff

 

who prevails in a civil action brought pursuant to this section may

 

recover both of the following:

 

     (a) Actual damages, including damages for emotional distress.

 

     (b) Treble damages for the cost of the partial-birth abortion.

 

     (6) A woman who obtains or seeks to obtain a partial-birth

 

abortion is not a conspirator to commit a violation of this

 

section.

 

     (7) As used in this section:

 

     (a) "Partial-birth abortion" means an abortion in which the

 

physician, an individual acting under the delegatory authority of

 

the physician, or any other individual performing the abortion

 

deliberately and intentionally vaginally delivers a living fetus

 

until, in the case of a headfirst presentation, the entire fetal

 

head is outside the body of the mother, or in the case of a breech

 

presentation, any part of the fetal trunk past the naval is outside

 

the body of the mother, for the purpose of performing an overt act

 

that the person knows will kill the partially delivered living

 

fetus, and performs the overt act that kills the partially

 

delivered living fetus rather than completing the delivery.

 

     (b) "Physician" means an individual licensed by this state to

 

engage in the practice of medicine or the practice of osteopathic

 

medicine and surgery under article 15 of the public health code,

 

1978 PA 368, MCL 333.16101 to 333.18838.