BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 561

By: Christian

State Affairs

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Abortion is an issue that sparks passion and concern in many Texans around the state. Since it involves human life on an intimate level many Texans take issue with their hard-earned tax dollars financing an abortion. Interested parties note that because so many pro-life Texans live within a hospital tax district, it does not seem morally acceptable to force those people to fund abortions to which they are ethically opposed.  C.S.H.B. 561 prohibits hospital districts from using tax revenue of the district to finance the performance of an abortion except in the case of medical emergency, which is defined in the bill.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 561 amends the Health and Safety Code to prohibit a hospital district created under general or special law from using tax revenue of the district to finance the performance of an abortion, except in the case of a medical emergency.  The bill requires a physician who performs an abortion in a medical emergency at a hospital or other health care facility owned or operated by a hospital district to include in the patient's medical records a statement signed by the physician certifying the nature of the medical emergency and, not later than the 30th day after the date the abortion is performed, certify to the Department of State Health Services the specific medical condition that constituted the emergency. The bill requires the statement of medical emergency to be placed in the patient's medical records and kept by the hospital or other health care facility where the abortion is performed until the seventh anniversary of the date the abortion is performed or, if the pregnant woman is a minor, until the later of the seventh anniversary of the date the abortion is performed or the woman's 21st birthday.

C.S.H.B. 561 defines "medical emergency," for purposes of its provisions, to mean a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy that, as certified by a physician, places the woman in danger of death or a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless an abortion is performed. The bill makes a conforming change.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2011.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 561 differs from the original, in the bill provision prohibiting the use of hospital district tax revenue to finance the performance of an abortion, by creating an exception to that prohibition for a medical emergency, whereas the original contains no such exception. The substitute contains a provision not included in the original defining "medical emergency."

C.S.H.B. 561 contains provisions not included in the original requiring a physician who performs an abortion in a medical emergency at a hospital or other health care facility owned or operated by a hospital district to include in the patient's medical records a statement of medical emergency and establishing a deadline by which the physician is required to certify to the Department of State Health Services the specific medical condition that constituted the emergency. The substitute contains a provision not included in the original establishing the retention period for the statement of medical emergency.