Bill Text: TX HB128 | 2021 | 87th Legislature 3rd Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to a required resource access assistance offer before an abortion is performed or induced.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-09-30 - Filed [HB128 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB128-Introduced.html
| By: Leach | H.B. No. 128 | |
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| relating to a required resource access assistance offer before an | ||
| abortion is performed or induced. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 171, Health and Safety | ||
| Code, is amended by adding Section 171.01205 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 171.01205. REQUIRED PRE-ABORTION RESOURCE ACCESS | ||
| ASSISTANCE OFFER. (a) In addition to the informed consent | ||
| requirements under Section 171.012, except during a medical | ||
| emergency, and before the abortion is performed or induced, the | ||
| physician who is to perform or induce an abortion shall confirm the | ||
| pregnant woman received a resource access assistance offer, as | ||
| required by this section, by verifying the unique identifying | ||
| number, devoid of the woman's personally identifiable information, | ||
| as provided by the commission. | ||
| (b) A care agent providing a resource access assistance | ||
| offer under this section: | ||
| (1) must be: | ||
| (A) licensed in this state as a counselor, | ||
| physician, psychologist, social worker, nurse, advanced practice | ||
| registered nurse, community health worker, physician's assistant, | ||
| or marriage and family therapist; or | ||
| (B) acting under the supervision of an individual | ||
| described by Paragraph (A); | ||
| (2) must: | ||
| (A) be authorized under a contract with the | ||
| commission to provide resource access assistance offers and support | ||
| services on behalf of this state in accordance with this section; | ||
| (B) complete a training program on identifying | ||
| and assisting victims of human trafficking using a standardized | ||
| curriculum created by the human trafficking prevention task force | ||
| established under Section 402.035, Government Code; and | ||
| (C) comply with medical records privacy laws | ||
| under Chapter 181; | ||
| (3) in the two years preceding the offer may not: | ||
| (A) have performed or induced an abortion; or | ||
| (B) have served as a director, board member, | ||
| officer, volunteer, or employee for an abortion facility licensed | ||
| under Chapter 245; and | ||
| (4) may not refer a woman to an abortion provider. | ||
| (c) The resource access assistance offer must be provided by | ||
| and on behalf of this state at no cost to the pregnant woman from a | ||
| care agent who meets the qualifications described by Subsection | ||
| (b). The care agent during the resource access assistance offer | ||
| shall provide: | ||
| (1) medically accurate information using the | ||
| informational materials described by Section 171.014; | ||
| (2) an assessment of eligibility for and offer of | ||
| assistance in obtaining support services other than abortion for | ||
| the woman or unborn child's biological father, including housing, | ||
| employment, resume development, child care, prenatal and | ||
| postpartum medical care, mental health or behavioral counseling, | ||
| adoption services, financial assistance, abuse or neglect | ||
| prevention assistance, substance or alcohol abuse prevention | ||
| assistance, and health benefit plan coverage; | ||
| (3) education on available public and private | ||
| resources to address the woman's or biological father's | ||
| socioeconomic needs; and | ||
| (4) screening for: | ||
| (A) family violence, abuse, and neglect | ||
| victimization; | ||
| (B) coercion of abortion; and | ||
| (C) human trafficking victimization. | ||
| (d) A care agent who obtains information that the pregnant | ||
| woman is a victim of human trafficking or coercion of abortion may: | ||
| (1) submit a report to the appropriate law enforcement | ||
| agency of the suspected human trafficking or coercion of abortion, | ||
| if, before submitting the report, the care agent: | ||
| (A) provides to the pregnant woman a written | ||
| disclosure that the woman's identifying information will be | ||
| provided in the report; and | ||
| (B) after receiving the written disclosure | ||
| described by Paragraph (A), the pregnant woman consents to the care | ||
| agent submitting the report; or | ||
| (2) provide to the pregnant woman information on the | ||
| methods available for the woman to report human trafficking or | ||
| coercion of abortion to the appropriate law enforcement agency. | ||
| (e) A care agent shall request a unique identifying number, | ||
| devoid of the pregnant woman's personally identifiable | ||
| information, from the system developed by the commission to certify | ||
| that the woman received the resource access assistance offer. | ||
| (f) The commission shall develop and maintain an | ||
| authentication system that provides the pregnant woman a unique | ||
| identifying number required under this section. The system must: | ||
| (1) allow a care agent to request a unique identifying | ||
| number for the pregnant woman; | ||
| (2) allow a physician who is to perform or induce an | ||
| abortion to verify the unique identifying number; | ||
| (3) ensure that the identity of an individual pregnant | ||
| woman, care agent, or physician, who is to perform or induce the | ||
| abortion, is not disclosed in the authentication system; and | ||
| (4) remove any individually identifying information | ||
| of the pregnant woman, care agent, or physician as soon as the | ||
| information is not needed to verify the unique identifying number. | ||
| (g) The commission shall establish a single toll-free | ||
| telephone number through which a woman seeking an abortion in this | ||
| state may receive a resource access assistance offer on a 24-hour | ||
| basis. The commission must ensure the placed call automatically | ||
| routes the woman to a care agent at a contracting agency to provide | ||
| the resource access assistance offer. | ||
| (h) The pregnant woman: | ||
| (1) is not required to: | ||
| (A) provide any information to the care agent or | ||
| contracting agency; or | ||
| (B) initiate or complete services offered under | ||
| this section to obtain an abortion; | ||
| (2) may decline services under this section at any | ||
| time; and | ||
| (3) if accepting a resource assistance offer, shall | ||
| retain access to the offer until the second anniversary of the date | ||
| of acceptance, regardless of the woman's pregnancy. | ||
| SECTION 2. Section 171.0121, Health and Safety Code, is | ||
| amended to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 171.0121. MEDICAL RECORD. (a) Before the abortion | ||
| begins, a copy of the signed, written certification received by the | ||
| physician under Section 171.012(a)(6) and documentation of the | ||
| receipt of the resource access assistance offer required under | ||
| Section 171.01205 must be placed in the pregnant woman's medical | ||
| records. | ||
| (b) A copy of the signed, written certification required | ||
| under Sections 171.012(a)(5) and (6) and documentation of the | ||
| receipt of the resource access assistance offer required under | ||
| Section 171.01205 shall be retained by the facility where the | ||
| abortion is performed until: | ||
| (1) the seventh anniversary of the date it is signed; | ||
| or | ||
| (2) if the pregnant woman is a minor, the later of: | ||
| (A) the seventh anniversary of the date it is | ||
| signed; or | ||
| (B) the woman's 21st birthday. | ||
| SECTION 3. (a) Notwithstanding Section 171.01205, Health | ||
| and Safety Code, as added by this Act, and Section 171.0121, Health | ||
| and Safety Code, as amended by this Act, a physician is not required | ||
| to comply with the changes in law made by this Act before April 1, | ||
| 2023. | ||
| (b) Not later than August 31, 2022, the executive | ||
| commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall | ||
| adopt rules as necessary to implement this Act. | ||
| (c) Not later than April 1, 2023, the Health and Human | ||
| Services Commission shall contract with one or more contracting | ||
| agencies that employ care agents throughout this state to provide | ||
| the pre-abortion resource access assistance offer and assistance in | ||
| obtaining support services described by Section 171.01205, Health | ||
| and Safety Code, as added by this Act. | ||
| SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to | ||
| an abortion performed or induced on or after April 1, 2023. An | ||
| abortion performed or induced before April 1, 2023, is governed by | ||
| the law applicable to the abortion immediately before the effective | ||
| date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that | ||
| purpose. | ||
| SECTION 5. It is the intent of the legislature that every | ||
| provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word | ||
| in this Act, and every application of the provisions in this Act to | ||
| each person or entity, are severable from each other. If any | ||
| application of any provision in this Act to any person, group of | ||
| persons, or circumstances is found by a court to be invalid for any | ||
| reason, the remaining applications of that provision to all other | ||
| persons and circumstances shall be severed and may not be affected. | ||
| SECTION 6. The Health and Human Services Commission is | ||
| required to implement this Act only if the legislature appropriates | ||
| money specifically for that purpose. If the legislature does not | ||
| appropriate money specifically for that purpose, the commission | ||
| may, but is not required to, implement the Act using other | ||
| appropriations available for the purpose. | ||
| SECTION 7. This Act takes effect on the 91st day after the | ||
| last day of the legislative session. | ||
