Bill Text: NY A03479 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Provides women alternative birth choices to preserve the life of a fetus when electing to have an abortion by health care practitioners offering sedated birth and perinatal hospice procedures.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 5-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to health [A03479 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A03479-Introduced.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          3479

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 3, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  DeSTEFANO  --  read once and referred to the
          Committee on Health

        AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation  to  providing  women
          alternative  birth choices to preserve the life of a fetus when elect-
          ing to have an abortion

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Subdivision 2 of section 2599-bb of the public health law
     2  is renumbered subdivision 7 and five new subdivisions 2, 3, 4, 5  and  6
     3  are added to read as follows:
     4    2.  For purposes of this section, the following terms have the follow-
     5  ing definitions:
     6    (a) "Sedated birth" shall mean a procedure to take place past  twenty-
     7  four  weeks  of  pregnancy  as  an alternative to abortion where a woman
     8  receives general anesthesia and medical interventions  to  induce  labor
     9  and  delivery,  while  medical  interventions  are not taken to stop the
    10  heartbeat or otherwise end the life of the fetus. The fetus is then born
    11  alive and intact.
    12    (b) "Perinatal hospice" shall mean specialized  perinatal  care  which
    13  can  take  place  at  any  point during a pregnancy as an alternative to
    14  surgical abortion  centered  on  ensuring  a  peaceful,  nonviolent  and
    15  natural end to a baby's life that includes emotional support provided to
    16  the  parents,  the opportunity for parents to participate in the health-
    17  care decision making process and the opportunity for  parents  to  cele-
    18  brate their baby's life, whether such baby's life lasts for an amount of
    19  time after birth or ends naturally before birth.
    20    3.  When  a  health  care  practitioner is caring for a patient who is
    21  considering abortion and such abortion  would  be  performed  more  than
    22  twenty-four  weeks  from  the  commencement  of  pregnancy  because such
    23  abortion is necessary to protect such patient's  life  or  health,  such
    24  health  care practitioner shall inform such patient before any procedure

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD08169-01-3
        A. 3479                             2

     1  is commenced that surgical abortion is not a reversible  procedure,  and
     2  that  such  patient  shall have the option to choose sedated birth as an
     3  alternative to abortion.
     4    4.  When  a  health  care  practitioner is caring for a patient who is
     5  considering abortion, such health care practitioner  shall  inform  such
     6  patient  before any procedure is commenced that surgical abortion is not
     7  a reversible procedure, and that such patient shall have the  option  to
     8  choose perinatal hospice, if applicable, as an alternative to abortion.
     9    5.  A  health  care  practitioner shall inform patients considering an
    10  abortion procedure about the alternatives to abortions described in this
    11  section both verbally and in writing. Health  care  practitioners  shall
    12  document  in a patient's permanent medical record the time and date that
    13  information pertaining to such alternatives was provided to the patient.
    14    6. (a) If a patient should choose sedated birth as an  alternative  to
    15  abortion  pursuant  to  subdivision  three  of this section, the patient
    16  shall have the option once the procedure is completed to have  the  baby
    17  removed from her presence with no additional contact post-birth, whereas
    18  constituting  an  abandonment  of  the  child  pursuant to section three
    19  hundred seventy-two-g of the social services law, or to  have  the  baby
    20  put  up  for  adoption  and  the  opportunity  to  work directly with an
    21  adoption agency post-birth.
    22    (b) If a patient should choose to have the baby removed from her pres-
    23  ence with no contact post-birth, such baby would  be  placed  under  the
    24  care  of  the  department  of  social services pursuant to section three
    25  hundred seventy-two-g of the social services law.
    26    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.