80R6770 JLL-D

By: Coleman H.B. No. 1760

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to voluntary and informed consent for an abortion.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 171.012(a), Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:

(a) Except in the case of a medical emergency, consent to an abortion is voluntary and informed only if:

(1) the physician who is to perform the abortion or the referring physician informs the woman on whom the abortion is to be performed of:

(A) the name of the physician who will perform the abortion;

(B) the particular medical risks associated with the particular abortion procedure to be employed, including, when medically accurate:

(i) the risks of infection and hemorrhage; and

(ii) the potential danger to a subsequent pregnancy and of infertility; [and

[(iii) the possibility of increased risk of breast cancer following an induced abortion and the natural protective effect of a completed pregnancy in avoiding breast cancer;]

(C) the probable gestational age of the unborn child at the time the abortion is to be performed; and

(D) the medical risks associated with carrying the child to term;

(2) the physician who is to perform the abortion or the physician's agent informs the woman that:

(A) medical assistance benefits may be available for prenatal care, childbirth, and neonatal care;

(B) the father is liable for assistance in the support of the child without regard to whether the father has offered to pay for the abortion;

(C) public and private agencies provide pregnancy prevention counseling and medical referrals for obtaining pregnancy prevention medications or devices, including emergency contraception for victims of rape or incest; and

(D) the woman has the right to review the printed materials described by Section 171.014, that those materials have been provided by the [Texas] Department of State Health Services and are accessible on an Internet website sponsored by the department, and that the materials describe the unborn child and list agencies that offer alternatives to abortion;

(3) the woman certifies in writing before the abortion is performed that the information described by Subdivisions (1) and (2) has been provided to her and that she has been informed of her opportunity to review the information described by Section 171.014; and

(4) before the abortion is performed, the physician who is to perform the abortion receives a copy of the written certification required by Subdivision (3).

SECTION 2. (a) Not later than December 1, 2007, the Department of State Health Services shall:

(1) revise the informational materials the department is required to publish under Section 171.014, Health and Safety Code; and

(2) make the materials available for distribution.

(b) The changes in law made by this Act apply only to the abortion information a physician is required to provide under Section 171.012, Health and Safety Code, on or after January 1, 2008.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.