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Senate Bill 4 (2nd C.S.) |
Senate Author: Lucio et al. |
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Effective: 12-2-21 |
House Sponsor: Klick et al. |
Senate Bill 4 amends the Health and Safety Code to prohibit a person from providing an abortion‑inducing drug to a pregnant woman without satisfying the applicable informed consent requirements for abortions and to require a physician who provides such a drug to comply with the applicable physician reporting requirements regarding abortions. The bill creates a state jail felony offense for a person who intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly violates provisions relating to abortion-inducing drugs but exempts a pregnant woman on whom a drug-induced abortion is attempted, induced, or performed from criminal liability and establishes an administrative violation based on conduct constituting the offense. The bill prohibits a state executive or administrative official from declining to enforce provisions relating to abortion-inducing drugs, or adopting a construction of those provisions in a way that narrows their applicability, based on the official's own beliefs on the requirements of the state or federal constitution, unless the official is enjoined by a state or federal court from enforcing those provisions.
Senate Bill 4 extends abortion complication reporting requirements to apply to complications resulting from induced abortions, revises existing complication reporting requirements to also apply to certain physicians, and expands the list of events and outcomes that are expressly included in the definition of "abortion complication" for purposes of those reporting requirements. Among other provisions, the bill revises definitions for provisions relating to abortion-inducing drugs and clarifies that the provision of an abortion-inducing drug must satisfy the protocol authorized by applicable state law. The bill prohibits a manufacturer, supplier, physician, or any other person from providing a patient with any abortion-inducing drug by courier, delivery, or mail service and requires a physician, before providing an abortion-inducing drug, to take certain actions. The bill requires the physician's examination of the pregnant woman to be done in person and clarifies that the requirement for the physician to document the gestational age and intrauterine location of the pregnancy is for the purpose of determining whether an ectopic pregnancy exists. The bill clarifies that the woman's required follow-up visit must occur within a 14-day period following the date an abortion-inducing drug is administered and that the physician must assess any continued blood loss at that visit.
Senate Bill 4 establishes that nothing in the bill's provisions shall be construed as creating or recognizing a right to abortion and that it is not the intention of the bill to make lawful an abortion that is otherwise unlawful. The bill further establishes that nothing in its provisions repeals, replaces, or otherwise invalidates existing Texas laws, regulations, or policies, except for the specific statutes that the bill explicitly repeals. The bill provides for the severability of its provisions and sets out certain legislative findings.