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Senate Bill 8 |
Senate Author: Schwertner et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-17 |
House Sponsor: Burkett et al. |
Senate Bill 8 amends the Health and Safety Code to prohibit a physician or other person from knowingly performing a partial-birth abortion unless the abortion is performed by a physician and is necessary to save the life of a mother whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury. The bill creates a state jail felony for a person who violates that prohibition and establishes certain civil liability arising from the performance of a prohibited partial-birth abortion but prohibits the prosecution of a woman on whom a prohibited partial-birth abortion is performed or attempted. The bill prohibits a person from intentionally performing a dismemberment abortion unless that abortion is necessary in a medical emergency and makes a violation of that prohibition a state jail felony. A woman on whom a dismemberment abortion is performed, an employee or agent acting under the direction of a physician who performs a dismemberment abortion, or a person who fills a prescription or provides equipment used in a dismemberment abortion is not considered to have violated that prohibition.
Senate Bill 8 prohibits a person from donating certain human fetal tissue but authorizes certain licensed medical facilities to donate such fetal tissue, other than tissue obtained from an elective abortion, only to an accredited public or private institution of higher education for specified research with the informed consent of the woman from whose pregnancy the fetal tissue is obtained. The bill makes it a Class A misdemeanor offense for a person to knowingly or intentionally solicit or accept tissue from a fetus gestated solely for research purposes or to offer a woman monetary or other consideration to have an abortion for the purpose of donating human fetal tissue or consenting to the donation of such tissue. The bill subjects a facility that donates human fetal tissue to an annual reporting requirement.
Senate Bill 8 replaces the annual reporting requirement for each abortion facility with a requirement for a physician who performs an abortion at an abortion facility to complete and submit a monthly report to the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) on each abortion performed by the physician at the facility. The bill requires DSHS to publish on its website a monthly report containing aggregate data of the information in those reports.
Senate Bill 8 requires a health care facility that provides health or medical care to a pregnant woman to dispose of embryonic and fetal tissue remains that are passed or delivered at the facility by internment, cremation, incineration followed by internment, or steam disinfection followed by internment. The bill provides for the creation of a burial or cremation assistance registry and an ethical fetal remains grant program that uses private donations to assist with the cost associated with the disposition of embryonic and fetal tissue remains. The bill authorizes DSHS to suspend or revoke the license of a health care facility that improperly disposes of embryonic and fetal tissue remains and subjects a person who engages in such behavior to a civil penalty.
Senate Bill 8 amends the Texas Abortion Facility Reporting and Licensing Act, Health and Safety Code, to clarify the definition of "abortion" and to specify that the term does not include an act intended to save the life or preserve the health of an unborn child, remove an ectopic pregnancy, or remove a dead, unborn child whose death was caused by spontaneous abortion. The bill also amends the Family Code and Health and Safety Code to bring uniformity to the definition of the term across various applicable statutes.
Senate Bill 8 amends the Occupations Code to include performing, inducing, or attempting to perform or induce a prohibited partial-birth or dismemberment abortion among the prohibited practices by a physician or medical license applicant that subjects that person to applicable disciplinary action by the Texas Medical Board. The bill establishes that a violation of those prohibitions does not subject an individual to the punishments prescribed for a violation of the Medical Practice Act.
Senate Bill 8 amends the Penal Code to make it a state jail felony for a person to knowingly offer to buy, offer to sell, acquire, receive, sell, or otherwise transfer certain human fetal tissue for economic benefit, with certain exceptions. The bill grants the attorney general concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute such an offense with appropriate local consent.