BILL ANALYSIS C.S.S.B. 1033 By: Harris Health and Human Services 4-28-95 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND One of the key purposes of the Roe v. Wade decision was to make abortion procedures within the United States both safe and legal. Decades after the decision, however, the abortion industry in Texas remains the least regulated of all medical fields. Under current regulations, abortion clinics are licensed but never inspected. Regulations governing them are inconsistent with all other surgical facilities within the state, including veterinary clinics. Abortion facilities are not required to have whole blood on site in the event of an emergency, and abortion providers are not required to transport patients with life-threatening complications to a hospital by emergency vehicles. As a result, the procedure is legal but not necessarily safe. This fact is proven by the number of deaths and by an even larger number of permanent injuries to clients within clinics ill-prepared to handle them. PURPOSE As proposed, C.S.S.B. 1033 requires an ambulatory surgical center that performs an abortion to submit a report on each abortion to the Texas Department of Health. The bill also maintains the responsibility of a physician to perform an abortion in an unlicensed facility in order to prevent the death or serious physical or mental impairment of a patient. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Sections 243.002, 243.004, and 243.006, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 243.002. DEFINITIONS. Defines "abortion" and redefines "ambulatory surgical center." Sec. 243.004. EXEMPTIONS FROM LICENSING REQUIREMENT. Provides that an office or clinic of a licensed physician, dentist, or podiatrist where abortion services are performed is not exempt from the licensing requirement. Sec. 243.006. INSPECTIONS. Requires the Texas Department of Health (department), at least annually, to inspect an ambulatory surgical center that is not certified under Title XVIII of the federal Social Security Act. Requires an inspection conducted under this subsection to be substantially similar to an inspection conducted in connection with certification under that law. SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 243, Health and Safety Code, by adding Sections 243.0105 and 243.0106, as follows: Sec. 243.0105. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS; CRIMINAL PENALTY. (a) Requires each ambulatory medical center that performs an abortion to submit an annual report, on a department form, to the department on each abortion performed. (b) Prohibits the report from identifying by any means the physician performing the abortion or the patient. (c) Sets forth information required in the report. (d) Makes all the information and records held by the department under this chapter confidential and to be released or made public only under specific circumstances. (e) Provides that a person in violation of this section commits an offense classified as a Class A misdemeanor. Sec. 243.0106. ABORTION IN UNLICENSED FACILITY TO PREVENT DEATH OR SERIOUS IMPAIRMENT. Provides that this chapter does not remove the responsibility or limit the ability of a physician to perform an abortion in an unlicensed facility if the physician reasonably believes at the commencement of the abortion that the abortion is necessary to prevent the patient's death or serious impairment of the patient's physical or mental condition. SECTION 3. Amends Section 243.013, Health and Safety Code, by adding Subsection (d), to make a violation of Subsection 243.003(a), resulting from an abortion performed under Section 243.0106, a defense to prosecution. SECTION 4. Repealer: Chapter 245, Health and Safety Code (Abortion Facilities). SECTION 5. Effective date of this Act: September 1, 1995. Effective date of Section 4 of this Act: January 1, 1996. SECTION 6. Makes application of this Act, regarding an ambulatory surgical center that provides abortion services, prospective beginning January 1, 1996. SECTION 7. Makes application of this Act, regarding the repeal of Sections 245.011 and 245.014, Health and Safety Code, prospective beginning January 1, 1996. SECTION 8. Emergency clause.