Bill Text: TX HB2313 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to a required resource access assistance offer before an abortion is performed or induced.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 13-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-05-12 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HB2313 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB2313-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Relating to a required resource access assistance offer before an abortion is performed or induced.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 13-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-05-12 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HB2313 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB2313-Introduced.html
87R10301 TYPED | ||
By: Leach | H.B. No. 2313 |
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relating to a required resource access assistance offer before an | ||
abortion is performed. | ||
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, the physician who | ||
is to perform an abortion shall confirm the pregnant woman received | ||
a pre-abortion resource access assistance offer, as required by | ||
this section, by: | ||
(1) verifying that the unique identifying number | ||
provided to the woman as required by Subsection (d) is recorded in a | ||
secure database maintained by the commission; and | ||
(2) documenting the pregnant woman's unique | ||
identifying number in the woman's medical record. | ||
(b) A care agent providing a resource access assistance | ||
offer under this section: | ||
(1) must be: | ||
(A) licensed as a counselor, doctor, | ||
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 not: | ||
(A) have performed an abortion in the last two | ||
years; | ||
(B) have served as a director, board member, | ||
officer, volunteer, or employee for an abortion facility licensed | ||
under Chapter 245; | ||
(3) may not refer women to an abortion provider, | ||
recommend abortion, or take any other action that directly or | ||
indirectly advises or assists a woman in obtaining an abortion; | ||
(4) must 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; | ||
and | ||
(5) must 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. | ||
(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 a 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 pregnant woman or unborn child's biological father, including | ||
housing, employment, resume development, child care, prenatal and | ||
postpartum medical care, mental health or behavioral counselling, | ||
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 pregnant 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) After providing the resource access assistance offer, | ||
the care agent or the contracting agency that employs the care agent | ||
shall: | ||
(1) certify to the commission using a unique | ||
identifying number, devoid of personally identifying information | ||
of the pregnant woman, that the pregnant woman received the | ||
resource access assistance offer; and | ||
(2) provide to the pregnant woman the identifying | ||
number described by Subdivision (1). | ||
(e) A care agent shall report to the commission | ||
de-identified demographic information obtained through a resource | ||
access assistance offer provided under this section to assist the | ||
commission in determining the supply and demand of social services | ||
in the pregnant woman's geographic region. | ||
(f) The commission shall develop and maintain on the | ||
commission's Internet website a secure database to store the unique | ||
identifying numbers provided under Subsection (d) and that allows | ||
the care agent to submit the de-identified information required | ||
under Subsection (e). | ||
(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 provide any information to the | ||
care agent or agency; | ||
(2) is not required to initiate or complete services | ||
offered under this section in order to obtain an abortion; | ||
(3) may decline services under this section at any | ||
time; and | ||
(4) if accepting a resource assistance offer, shall | ||
have the offer available for two calendar years regardless of the | ||
pregnant 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 on or after April 1, 2023. An abortion | ||
performed 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. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. |