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79R1204 MSE-D
By: Chisum H.B. No. 2907
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the protection of life, including unborn life, from the
point of conception; providing penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 170, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Section 170.003 to read as follows:
Sec. 170.003. POLICY; CONTINGENT REPEALER. (a)
Notwithstanding this chapter, Chapter 171 of this code, Chapter 245
of this code, Chapter 33, Family Code, or any other statute
regulating abortion, it is the policy of this state that life,
including unborn life, is protected from the point of conception.
(b) In the event that the attorney general of this state
determines that the United States Constitution no longer prohibits
a state from banning abortion and publishes and widely publicizes
that fact as required by Section 50.01, Penal Code, the following
laws are repealed on the date Chapter 50, Penal Code, takes effect:
(1) Sections 170.001 and 170.002 of this code;
(2) Chapter 171 of this code;
(3) Chapter 245 of this code; and
(4) Chapter 33, Family Code.
SECTION 2. Articles 4512.1, 4512.2, 4512.3, 4512.4, and
4512.6, Revised Statutes, are transferred to Title 10, Penal Code,
redesignated as Chapter 50, Penal Code, and reenacted and amended
to read as follows:
CHAPTER 50. ABORTION
Sec. 50.01. EFFECT OF CHAPTER; DETERMINATION BY ATTORNEY
GENERAL. (a) This chapter takes effect only after the attorney
general of this state:
(1) determines based on a decision by the United
States Supreme Court or a newly ratified amendment to the federal
constitution that the United States Constitution no longer
prohibits a state from banning abortion that is not procured on
medical advice for the purpose of saving the life of the mother; and
(2) publishes that determination in the Texas Register
and contemporaneously widely publicizes that determination by a
variety of means, including publication in a newspaper of general
circulation in each county for which there is a newspaper of general
circulation.
(b) The attorney general shall monitor federal legal
developments for purposes of this section.
(c) This chapter takes effect on the 60th day after the date
the attorney general's determination is published in the Texas
Register.
Sec. 50.02. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "abortion" means
the destruction, or the causation of premature birth for the
purpose of destruction, of [Art. 4512.1. ABORTION. If any person
shall designedly administer to a pregnant woman or knowingly
procure to be administered with her consent any drug or medicine, or
shall use towards her any violence or means whatever externally or
internally applied, and thereby procure an abortion, he shall be
confined in the penitentiary not less than two nor more than five
years; if it be done without her consent, the punishment shall be
doubled. By "abortion" is meant that] the life of the fetus or
embryo [shall be destroyed] in a pregnant [the] woman's womb [or
that a premature birth thereof be caused].
Sec. 50.03. ABORTION. (a) A person commits an offense if
the person, with the pregnant woman's consent, produces an abortion
by:
(1) administering to the woman or procuring for
administration to the woman any drug or medicine for the purpose of
producing an abortion;
(2) applying any external or internal means to the
pregnant woman for the purpose of producing an abortion; or
(3) furnishing to another the means to produce an
abortion knowing that the person intends to use those means to
produce an abortion with the pregnant woman's consent.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person, without the
pregnant woman's consent, produces an abortion by:
(1) administering to the woman or procuring for
administration to the woman any drug or medicine for the purpose of
producing an abortion;
(2) applying any external or internal means to the
pregnant woman for the purpose of producing an abortion; or
(3) furnishing to another the means to produce an
abortion knowing that the person intends to use those means to
produce an abortion without the pregnant woman's consent.
(c) An offense under Subsection (a) is a felony of the third
degree.
(d) An offense under Subsection (b) is a felony of the
second degree.
[Art. 4512.2. FURNISHING THE MEANS. Whoever furnishes the
means for procuring an abortion knowing the purpose intended is
guilty as an accomplice.
[Art. 4512.3. ATTEMPT AT ABORTION. If the means used shall
fail to produce an abortion, the offender is nevertheless guilty of
an attempt to produce abortion, provided it be shown that such means
were calculated to produce that result, and shall be fined not less
than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars.]
Sec. 50.04 [Art. 4512.4]. MURDER IN PRODUCING ABORTION.
(a) A person commits an offense if the person produces or attempts
to produce an abortion that results in [If] the death of the mother
[is occasioned by an abortion so produced or by an attempt to effect
the same it is murder].
(b) An offense under this section is a felony of the first
degree.
Sec. 50.05 [Art. 4512.6]. BY MEDICAL ADVICE. It is an
exception to the application of Sections 50.03 and 50.04 that the
[Nothing in this chapter applies to an] abortion was procured or
attempted on [by] medical advice for the purpose of saving the life
of the mother.
Sec. 50.06. CONFLICTS. This chapter controls over any
statute or rule in conflict with this chapter.
SECTION 3. (a) Chapter 50, Penal Code, as added by this Act
applies only to an offense committed on or after the date Chapter
50, Penal Code, takes effect. For purposes of this section, an
offense is committed before the date Chapter 50, Penal Code, takes
effect if any element of the offense occurs before the date Chapter
50, Penal Code, takes effect.
(b) An offense committed before the date Chapter 50, Penal
Code, takes effect is covered by the law in effect when the offense
was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 4. 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 September 1, 2005.