By: Leach	H.B. No. 128

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	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.