Bill Text: TX SB5 | 2013 | 83rd Legislature 1st Special Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Relating to the regulation of abortion procedures, providers, and facilities; providing penalties.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Republican 10-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2013-06-25 - Statement(s) submitted [SB5 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-SB5-Engrossed.html
| By: Hegar, et al. | S.B. No. 5 | |
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| relating to the regulation of abortion procedures, providers, and | ||
| facilities; providing penalties. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 171, Health and Safety | ||
| Code, is amended by adding Section 171.0031 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 171.0031. REQUIREMENTS OF PHYSICIAN; OFFENSE. (a) A | ||
| physician performing or inducing an abortion: | ||
| (1) must, on the date the abortion is performed, have | ||
| active admitting privileges at a hospital that: | ||
| (A) is located not further than 30 miles from the | ||
| location at which the abortion is performed or induced; and | ||
| (B) provides obstetrical or gynecological health | ||
| care services; and | ||
| (2) shall provide the pregnant woman with: | ||
| (A) a telephone number by which the pregnant | ||
| woman may reach the physician, or other health care personnel | ||
| employed by the physician or by the facility at which the abortion | ||
| was performed with access to the woman's relevant medical records, | ||
| 24 hours a day to request assistance for any complications that | ||
| arise from the performance of the abortion or ask health-related | ||
| questions regarding the abortion; and | ||
| (B) the name and telephone number of the nearest | ||
| hospital to the home of the pregnant woman at which an emergency | ||
| arising from the abortion would be treated. | ||
| (b) A physician who violates Subsection (a) commits an | ||
| offense. An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor | ||
| punishable by a fine only, not to exceed $4,000. | ||
| SECTION 2. Chapter 171, Health and Safety Code, is amended | ||
| by adding Subchapter C to read as follows: | ||
| SUBCHAPTER C. ABORTION-INDUCING DRUGS | ||
| Sec. 171.041. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter: | ||
| (1) "Abortion-inducing drug" means a drug, a medicine, | ||
| or any other substance, including a regimen of two or more drugs, | ||
| medicines, or substances, prescribed, dispensed, or administered | ||
| with the intent of terminating a clinically diagnosable pregnancy | ||
| of a woman and with knowledge that the termination will, with | ||
| reasonable likelihood, cause the death of the woman's unborn child. | ||
| The term includes off-label use of drugs, medicines, or other | ||
| substances known to have abortion-inducing properties that are | ||
| prescribed, dispensed, or administered with the intent of causing | ||
| an abortion, including the Mifeprex regimen. The term does not | ||
| include a drug, medicine, or other substance that may be known to | ||
| cause an abortion but is prescribed, dispensed, or administered for | ||
| other medical reasons. | ||
| (2) "Final printed label" or "FPL" 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 how a drug is to be used according | ||
| to approval by that agency. | ||
| (3) "Gestational age" means the amount of time that | ||
| has elapsed since the first day of a woman's last menstrual period. | ||
| (4) "Medical abortion" means the administration or use | ||
| of an abortion-inducing drug to induce an abortion. | ||
| (5) "Mifeprex regimen," "RU-486 regimen," or "RU-486" | ||
| means the abortion-inducing drug regimen approved by the United | ||
| States Food and Drug Administration that consists of administering | ||
| mifepristone and misoprostal. | ||
| (6) "Physician" means an individual who is licensed to | ||
| practice medicine in this state, including a medical doctor and a | ||
| doctor of osteopathic medicine. | ||
| (7) "Pregnant" means the female reproductive | ||
| condition of having an unborn child in a woman's uterus. | ||
| (8) "Unborn child" means an offspring of human beings | ||
| from conception until birth. | ||
| Sec. 171.0411. APPLICABILITY TO MEDICAL ABORTION. This | ||
| subchapter does not apply to an abortion with the intent to: | ||
| (1) save the life or preserve the health of an unborn | ||
| child; | ||
| (2) remove a dead, unborn child whose death was caused | ||
| by spontaneous abortion; | ||
| (3) remove an ectopic pregnancy; or | ||
| (4) treat a maternal disease or illness for which a | ||
| prescribed drug, medicine, or other substance is indicated. | ||
| Sec. 171.042. ENFORCEMENT BY TEXAS MEDICAL BOARD. | ||
| Notwithstanding Section 171.005, the Texas Medical Board shall | ||
| enforce this subchapter. | ||
| Sec. 171.043. DISTRIBUTION OF ABORTION-INDUCING DRUG. | ||
| (a) A person may not knowingly give, sell, dispense, administer, | ||
| provide, or prescribe 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 gives, sells, dispenses, | ||
| administers, provides, or prescribes the abortion-inducing drug is | ||
| a physician; | ||
| (2) the physician administering the abortion-inducing | ||
| drug administers the drug to the woman while both are present at an | ||
| abortion facility licensed under Chapter 245; and | ||
| (3) the provision, prescription, or administration of | ||
| the abortion-inducing drug, except as provided by Subsection (a-1), | ||
| 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. | ||
| (a-1) A person may provide, prescribe, or administer the | ||
| abortion-inducing drug in the dosage amount prescribed by the | ||
| clinical management guidelines defined by the American Congress of | ||
| Obstetricians and Gynecologists Practice Bulletin as those | ||
| guidelines existed on January 1, 2013. | ||
| (b) Before the physician gives, sells, dispenses, | ||
| administers, provides, or prescribes an abortion-inducing drug, | ||
| the physician must examine the pregnant woman and document, in the | ||
| woman's medical record, the gestational age and intrauterine | ||
| location of the pregnancy. | ||
| (c) The physician who gives, sells, dispenses, administers, | ||
| provides, or prescribes an abortion-inducing drug shall provide the | ||
| pregnant woman with: | ||
| (1) a copy of the final printed label of that | ||
| abortion-inducing drug; and | ||
| (2) a telephone number by which the pregnant woman may | ||
| reach the physician, or other health care personnel employed by the | ||
| physician or by the facility at which the abortion was performed | ||
| with access to the woman's relevant medical records, 24 hours a day | ||
| to request assistance for any complications that arise from the | ||
| administration or use of the drug or ask health-related questions | ||
| regarding the administration or use of the drug. | ||
| (d) The physician who gives, sells, dispenses, administers, | ||
| provides, or prescribes the abortion-inducing drug, or the | ||
| physician's agent, must schedule a follow-up visit for the woman to | ||
| occur not more than 14 days after the administration or use of the | ||
| drug. At the follow-up visit, the physician must: | ||
| (1) confirm that the pregnancy is completely | ||
| terminated; and | ||
| (2) assess the degree of bleeding. | ||
| (e) The physician who gives, sells, dispenses, administers, | ||
| provides, or prescribes the abortion-inducing drug, or the | ||
| physician's agent, shall make a reasonable effort to ensure that | ||
| the woman returns for the scheduled follow-up visit under | ||
| Subsection (d). The physician or the physician's agent shall | ||
| document a brief description of any effort made to comply with this | ||
| subsection, including the date, time, and name of the person making | ||
| the effort, in the woman's medical record. | ||
| (f) If a physician gives, sells, dispenses, administers, | ||
| provides, or prescribes an abortion-inducing drug to a pregnant | ||
| woman for the purpose of inducing an abortion as authorized by this | ||
| section and the physician knows that the woman experiences a | ||
| serious adverse event, as defined by the MedWatch Reporting System, | ||
| during or after the administration or use of the drug, the physician | ||
| shall report the event to the United States Food and Drug | ||
| Administration through the MedWatch Reporting System not later than | ||
| the third day after the date the physician learns that the event | ||
| occurred. | ||
| Sec. 171.044. ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTY. (a) The Texas | ||
| Medical Board may take disciplinary action under Chapter 164, | ||
| Occupations Code, or assess an administrative penalty under | ||
| Subchapter A, Chapter 165, Occupations Code, against a person who | ||
| violates Section 171.043. | ||
| (b) A penalty may not be assessed under this section against | ||
| a pregnant woman who receives a medical abortion. | ||
| SECTION 3. Subsection (a), Section 245.010, Health and | ||
| Safety Code, is amended to read as follows: | ||
| (a) The rules must contain minimum standards to protect the | ||
| health and safety of a patient of an abortion facility and must | ||
| contain provisions requiring compliance with the requirements of | ||
| Subchapter B, Chapter 171. On and after September 1, 2014, the | ||
| minimum standards for an abortion facility must be equivalent to | ||
| the minimum standards adopted under Section 243.010 for ambulatory | ||
| surgical centers. | ||
| SECTION 4. Effective September 1, 2014, Subsection (c), | ||
| Section 245.010, Health and Safety Code, is repealed. | ||
| SECTION 5. This Act may not be construed to repeal, by | ||
| implication or otherwise, Subdivision (18), Subsection (a), | ||
| Section 164.052, Occupations Code, Section 170.002, Health and | ||
| Safety Code, or any other provision of Texas law regulating or | ||
| restricting abortion not specifically addressed by this Act. An | ||
| abortion that complies with this Act but violates any other law is | ||
| unlawful. An abortion that complies with another state law but | ||
| violates this Act is unlawful as provided in this Act. | ||
| SECTION 6. (a) If some or all of the provisions of this Act | ||
| are ever temporarily or permanently restrained or enjoined by | ||
| judicial order, all other provisions of Texas law regulating or | ||
| restricting abortion shall be enforced as though the restrained or | ||
| enjoined provisions had not been adopted; provided, however, that | ||
| whenever the temporary or permanent restraining order or injunction | ||
| is stayed or dissolved, or otherwise ceases to have effect, the | ||
| provisions shall have full force and effect. | ||
| (b) Mindful of Leavitt v. Jane L., 518 U.S. 137 (1996), in | ||
| which in the context of determining the severability of a state | ||
| statute regulating abortion the United States Supreme Court held | ||
| that an explicit statement of legislative intent is controlling, 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, 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, the remaining applications of that provision to all other | ||
| persons and circumstances shall be severed and may not be affected. | ||
| All constitutionally valid applications of this Act shall be | ||
| severed from any applications that a court finds to be invalid, | ||
| leaving the valid applications in force, because it is the | ||
| legislature's intent and priority that the valid applications be | ||
| allowed to stand alone. Even if a reviewing court finds a provision | ||
| of this Act to impose an undue burden in a large or substantial | ||
| fraction of relevant cases, the applications that do not present an | ||
| undue burden shall be severed from the remaining provisions and | ||
| shall remain in force, and shall be treated as if the legislature | ||
| had enacted a statute limited to the persons, group of persons, or | ||
| circumstances for which the statute's application does not present | ||
| an undue burden. The legislature further declares that it would | ||
| have passed this Act, and each provision, section, subsection, | ||
| sentence, clause, phrase, or word, and all constitutional | ||
| applications of this Act, irrespective of the fact that any | ||
| provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word, | ||
| or applications of this Act, were to be declared unconstitutional | ||
| or to represent an undue burden. | ||
| (c) If any provision of this Act is found by any court to be | ||
| unconstitutionally vague, then the applications of that provision | ||
| that do not present constitutional vagueness problems shall be | ||
| severed and remain in force. | ||
| SECTION 7. (a) The executive commissioner of the Health | ||
| and Human Services Commission shall adopt the standards required by | ||
| Section 245.010, Health and Safety Code, as amended by this Act, not | ||
| later than January 1, 2014. | ||
| (b) A facility licensed under Chapter 245, Health and Safety | ||
| Code, is not required to comply with the standards adopted under | ||
| Section 245.010, Health and Safety Code, as amended by this Act, | ||
| before September 1, 2014. | ||
| SECTION 8. 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 on the 91st day after the last day of the | ||
| legislative session. | ||
