Bill Text: IA SF359 | 2017-2018 | 87th General Assembly | Enrolled
Bill Title: A bill for an act prohibiting and requiring certain actions relating to a fetus and providing penalties. (Formerly SF 52.) Effective 7-1-18.
Spectrum: Committee Bill
Status: (Passed) 2018-05-04 - Signed by Governor. S.J. 1059. [SF359 Detail]
Download: Iowa-2017-SF359-Enrolled.html
Senate File 359 - Enrolled
SENATE FILE
BY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN
RESOURCES
(SUCCESSOR TO SF 52)
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A BILL FOR
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Senate File 359
AN ACT
PROHIBITING AND REQUIRING CERTAIN ACTIONS RELATING TO A
FETUS AND PROVIDING PENALTIES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
DIVISION I
FETAL BODY PARTS
Section 1. NEW SECTION. 146D.1 Fetal body parts ==== actions
prohibited ==== penalties.
1. A person shall not knowingly acquire, provide, receive,
otherwise transfer, or use a fetal body part in this state,
regardless of whether the acquisition, provision, receipt,
transfer, or use is for valuable consideration.
2. Subsection 1 shall not apply to any of the following:
a. Diagnostic or remedial tests, procedures, or observations
which have the sole purpose of determining the life or health
of the fetus in order to provide that information to the
pregnant woman or to preserve the life or health of the fetus
or pregnant woman.
b. The actions of a person taken in furtherance of the final
disposition of a fetal body part.
c. The pathological study of body tissue, including genetic
testing, for diagnostic or forensic purposes.
d. A fetal body part if the fetal body part results from
a spontaneous termination of pregnancy or stillbirth and is
willingly donated for the purpose of medical research.
3. A person who violates this section is guilty of a class
"C" felony.
4. For the purposes of this section:
a. "Abortion" means as defined in section 146.1.
b. "Fetal body part" means a cell, tissue, organ, or other
part of a fetus that is terminated by an abortion. "Fetal body
part" does not include any of the following:
(1) Cultured cells or cell lines derived from a spontaneous
termination of pregnancy or stillbirth and willingly donated
for the purposes of medical research.
(2) A cell, tissue, organ, or other part of a fetus that is
terminated by an abortion that occurred prior to July 1, 2018.
(3) All cells and tissues external to the fetal body proper.
c. "Final disposition" means the disposition of fetal
body parts by burial, interment, entombment, cremation, or
incineration.
d. "Valuable consideration" means any payment including but
not limited to payment associated with the transportation,
processing, preservation, quality control, or storage of fetal
body parts.
DIVISION II
ABORTION PREREQUISITES AND PROHIBITIONS ==== FETAL HEARTBEAT
Sec. 2. Section 146A.1, subsections 2 and 6, Code 2018, are
amended to read as follows:
2. Compliance with the prerequisites of this section shall
not apply to any of the following:
a. An abortion performed to save the life of a pregnant
woman.
b. An an abortion performed in a medical emergency.
c. The performance of a medical procedure by a physician
that in the physician's reasonable medical judgment is designed
to or intended to prevent the death or to preserve the life of
the pregnant woman.
6. As used in this section, "unborn child":
a. "Medical emergency" means a situation in which an
abortion is performed to preserve the life of the pregnant
woman whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical
illness, or physical injury, including a life=endangering
physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy, but
not including psychological conditions, emotional conditions,
familial conditions, or the woman's age; or when continuation
of the pregnancy will create a serious risk of substantial
and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the
pregnant woman.
b. "Unborn child" means an individual organism of the
species homo sapiens from fertilization to live birth.
Sec. 3. NEW SECTION. 146C.1 Definitions.
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise
requires:
1. "Abortion" means the termination of a human pregnancy
with the intent other than to produce a live birth or to remove
a dead fetus.
2. "Fetal heartbeat" means cardiac activity, the steady and
repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart within the
gestational sac.
3. "Medical emergency" means the same as defined in section
146A.1.
4. "Medically necessary" means any of the following:
a. The pregnancy is the result of a rape which is reported
within forty=five days of the incident to a law enforcement
agency or to a public or private health agency which may
include a family physician.
b. The pregnancy is the result of incest which is reported
within one hundred forty days of the incident to a law
enforcement agency or to a public or private health agency
which may include a family physician.
c. Any spontaneous abortion, commonly known as a
miscarriage, if not all of the products of conception are
expelled.
d. The attending physician certifies that the fetus has a
fetal abnormality that in the physician's reasonable medical
judgment is incompatible with life.
5. "Physician" means a person licensed under chapter 148.
6. "Reasonable medical judgment" means a medical judgment
made by a reasonably prudent physician who is knowledgeable
about the case and the treatment possibilities with respect to
the medical conditions involved.
7. "Unborn child" means the same as defined in section
146A.1.
Sec. 4. NEW SECTION. 146C.2 Abortion prohibited ====
detectable fetal heartbeat.
1. Except in the case of a medical emergency or when the
abortion is medically necessary, a physician shall not perform
an abortion unless the physician has first complied with the
prerequisites of chapter 146A and has tested the pregnant
woman as specified in this subsection, to determine if a fetal
heartbeat is detectable.
a. In testing for a detectable fetal heartbeat, the
physician shall perform an abdominal ultrasound, necessary to
detect a fetal heartbeat according to standard medical practice
and including the use of medical devices, as determined by
standard medical practice and specified by rule of the board
of medicine.
b. Following the testing of the pregnant woman for a
detectable fetal heartbeat, the physician shall inform the
pregnant woman, in writing, of all of the following:
(1) Whether a fetal heartbeat was detected.
(2) That if a fetal heartbeat was detected, an abortion is
prohibited.
c. Upon receipt of the written information, the pregnant
woman shall sign a form acknowledging that the pregnant woman
has received the information as required under this subsection.
2. a. A physician shall not perform an abortion upon a
pregnant woman when it has been determined that the unborn
child has a detectable fetal heartbeat, unless, in the
physician's reasonable medical judgment, a medical emergency
exists, or when the abortion is medically necessary.
b. Notwithstanding paragraph "a", if a physician determines
that the probable postfertilization age, as defined in
section 146B.1, of the unborn child is twenty or more weeks,
the physician shall not perform an abortion upon a pregnant
woman when it has been determined that the unborn child
has a detectable fetal heartbeat, unless in the physician's
reasonable medical judgment the pregnant woman has a condition
which the physician deems a medical emergency, as defined in
section 146B.1, or the abortion is necessary to preserve the
life of an unborn child.
3. A physician shall retain in the woman's medical record
all of the following:
a. Documentation of the testing for a fetal heartbeat
as specified in subsection 1 and the results of the fetal
heartbeat test.
b. The pregnant woman's signed form acknowledging that
the pregnant woman received the information as required under
subsection 1.
4. This section shall not be construed to impose civil
or criminal liability on a woman upon whom an abortion is
performed in violation of this section.
5. The board of medicine shall adopt rules pursuant to
chapter 17A to administer this section.
CHARLES SCHNEIDE
LINDA UPMEYER
W. CHARLES SMITH
KIM REYNOLDS
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