Bill Text: TX SB415 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to a prohibition on the performance of dismemberment abortions; providing penalties; creating a criminal offense.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 9-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2017-05-03 - Referred to State Affairs [SB415 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SB415-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: Relating to a prohibition on the performance of dismemberment abortions; providing penalties; creating a criminal offense.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 9-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2017-05-03 - Referred to State Affairs [SB415 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SB415-Comm_Sub.html
By: Perry , et al. | S.B. No. 415 | |
(In the Senate - Filed January 5, 2017; January 30, 2017, | ||
read first time and referred to Committee on Health & Human | ||
Services; March 7, 2017, reported favorably by the following vote: | ||
Yeas 6, Nays 2; March 7, 2017, sent to printer.) | ||
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relating to a prohibition on the performance of dismemberment | ||
abortions; providing penalties; creating a criminal offense. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Chapter 171, Health and Safety Code, is amended | ||
by adding Subchapter F to read as follows: | ||
SUBCHAPTER F. DISMEMBERMENT ABORTIONS | ||
Sec. 171.101. DEFINITION. In this subchapter, | ||
"dismemberment abortion" means an abortion in which a person, with | ||
the purpose of causing the death of an unborn child, dismembers the | ||
unborn child and extracts the unborn child one piece at a time from | ||
the uterus through the use of clamps, grasping forceps, tongs, | ||
scissors, or a similar instrument that, through the convergence of | ||
two rigid levers, slices, crushes, or grasps, or performs any | ||
combination of those actions on, a piece of the unborn child's body | ||
to cut or rip the piece from the body. The term does not include an | ||
abortion that uses suction to dismember the body of an unborn child | ||
by sucking pieces of the unborn child into a collection | ||
container. The term includes a dismemberment abortion that is used | ||
to cause the death of an unborn child and in which suction is | ||
subsequently used to extract pieces of the unborn child after the | ||
unborn child's death. | ||
Sec. 171.102. DISMEMBERMENT ABORTIONS PROHIBITED. (a) A | ||
person may not intentionally perform a dismemberment abortion | ||
unless the dismemberment abortion is necessary in a medical | ||
emergency. | ||
(b) A woman on whom a dismemberment abortion is performed, | ||
an employee or agent acting under the direction of a physician who | ||
performs a dismemberment abortion, or a person who fills a | ||
prescription or provides equipment used in a dismemberment abortion | ||
does not violate Subsection (a). | ||
Sec. 171.103. CRIMINAL PENALTY. (a) A person who violates | ||
Section 171.102 commits an offense. | ||
(b) An offense under this section is a state jail felony. | ||
Sec. 171.104. CONSTRUCTION OF SUBCHAPTER. (a) This | ||
subchapter shall be construed, as a matter of state law, to be | ||
enforceable to the maximum possible extent consistent with but not | ||
further than federal constitutional requirements, even if that | ||
construction is not readily apparent, as such constructions are | ||
authorized only to the extent necessary to save the subchapter from | ||
judicial invalidation. Judicial reformation of statutory language | ||
is explicitly authorized only to the extent necessary to save the | ||
statutory provision from invalidity. | ||
(b) If any court determines that a provision of this | ||
subchapter is unconstitutionally vague, the court shall interpret | ||
the provision, as a matter of state law, to avoid the vagueness | ||
problem and shall enforce the provision to the maximum possible | ||
extent. If a federal court finds any provision of this subchapter | ||
or its application to any person, group of persons, or | ||
circumstances to be unconstitutionally vague and declines to impose | ||
the saving construction described by this subsection, the Supreme | ||
Court of Texas shall provide an authoritative construction of the | ||
objectionable statutory provisions that avoids the constitutional | ||
problems while enforcing the statute's restrictions to the maximum | ||
possible extent and shall agree to answer any question certified | ||
from a federal appellate court regarding the statute. | ||
(c) A state executive or administrative official may not | ||
decline to enforce this subchapter, or adopt a construction of this | ||
subchapter in a way that narrows its applicability, based on the | ||
official's own beliefs concerning the requirements of the state or | ||
federal constitution, unless the official is enjoined by a state or | ||
federal court from enforcing this subchapter. | ||
(d) This subchapter may not be construed to: | ||
(1) authorize the prosecution of or a cause of action | ||
to be brought against a woman on whom an abortion is performed or | ||
induced in violation of this subchapter; or | ||
(2) create or recognize a right to abortion or a right | ||
to a particular method of abortion. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 164.052(a), Occupations Code, is amended | ||
to read as follows: | ||
(a) A physician or an applicant for a license to practice | ||
medicine commits a prohibited practice if that person: | ||
(1) submits to the board a false or misleading | ||
statement, document, or certificate in an application for a | ||
license; | ||
(2) presents to the board a license, certificate, or | ||
diploma that was illegally or fraudulently obtained; | ||
(3) commits fraud or deception in taking or passing an | ||
examination; | ||
(4) uses alcohol or drugs in an intemperate manner | ||
that, in the board's opinion, could endanger a patient's life; | ||
(5) commits unprofessional or dishonorable conduct | ||
that is likely to deceive or defraud the public, as provided by | ||
Section 164.053, or injure the public; | ||
(6) uses an advertising statement that is false, | ||
misleading, or deceptive; | ||
(7) advertises professional superiority or the | ||
performance of professional service in a superior manner if that | ||
advertising is not readily subject to verification; | ||
(8) purchases, sells, barters, or uses, or offers to | ||
purchase, sell, barter, or use, a medical degree, license, | ||
certificate, or diploma, or a transcript of a license, certificate, | ||
or diploma in or incident to an application to the board for a | ||
license to practice medicine; | ||
(9) alters, with fraudulent intent, a medical license, | ||
certificate, or diploma, or a transcript of a medical license, | ||
certificate, or diploma; | ||
(10) uses a medical license, certificate, or diploma, | ||
or a transcript of a medical license, certificate, or diploma that | ||
has been: | ||
(A) fraudulently purchased or issued; | ||
(B) counterfeited; or | ||
(C) materially altered; | ||
(11) impersonates or acts as proxy for another person | ||
in an examination required by this subtitle for a medical license; | ||
(12) engages in conduct that subverts or attempts to | ||
subvert an examination process required by this subtitle for a | ||
medical license; | ||
(13) impersonates a physician or permits another to | ||
use the person's license or certificate to practice medicine in | ||
this state; | ||
(14) directly or indirectly employs a person whose | ||
license to practice medicine has been suspended, canceled, or | ||
revoked; | ||
(15) associates in the practice of medicine with a | ||
person: | ||
(A) whose license to practice medicine has been | ||
suspended, canceled, or revoked; or | ||
(B) who has been convicted of the unlawful | ||
practice of medicine in this state or elsewhere; | ||
(16) performs or procures a criminal abortion, aids or | ||
abets in the procuring of a criminal abortion, attempts to perform | ||
or procure a criminal abortion, or attempts to aid or abet the | ||
performance or procurement of a criminal abortion; | ||
(17) directly or indirectly aids or abets the practice | ||
of medicine by a person, partnership, association, or corporation | ||
that is not licensed to practice medicine by the board; | ||
(18) performs an abortion on a woman who is pregnant | ||
with a viable unborn child during the third trimester of the | ||
pregnancy unless: | ||
(A) the abortion is necessary to prevent the | ||
death of the woman; | ||
(B) the viable unborn child has a severe, | ||
irreversible brain impairment; or | ||
(C) the woman is diagnosed with a significant | ||
likelihood of suffering imminent severe, irreversible brain damage | ||
or imminent severe, irreversible paralysis; | ||
(19) performs an abortion on an unemancipated minor | ||
without the written consent of the child's parent, managing | ||
conservator, or legal guardian or without a court order, as | ||
provided by Section 33.003 or 33.004, Family Code, unless the | ||
abortion is necessary due to a medical emergency, as defined by | ||
Section 171.002, Health and Safety Code; | ||
(20) otherwise performs an abortion on an | ||
unemancipated minor in violation of Chapter 33, Family Code; [ |
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(21) performs or induces or attempts to perform or | ||
induce an abortion in violation of Subchapter C, Chapter 171, | ||
Health and Safety Code; or | ||
(22) performs a dismemberment abortion in violation of | ||
Subchapter F, Chapter 171, Health and Safety Code. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 164.055(b), Occupations Code, is amended | ||
to read as follows: | ||
(b) The sanctions provided by Subsection (a) are in addition | ||
to any other grounds for refusal to admit persons to examination | ||
under this subtitle or to issue a license or renew a license to | ||
practice medicine under this subtitle. The criminal penalties | ||
provided by Section 165.152 do not apply to a violation of Section | ||
170.002, Health and Safety Code, or Subchapter C or F, Chapter 171, | ||
Health and Safety Code. | ||
SECTION 4. (a) If some or all of the provisions of this Act | ||
are ever temporarily or permanently restrained or enjoined by | ||
judicial order, all other provisions of Texas law regulating or | ||
restricting abortion shall be enforced as though the restrained or | ||
enjoined provisions had not been adopted; provided, however, that | ||
whenever the temporary or permanent restraining order or injunction | ||
is stayed or dissolved, or otherwise ceases to have effect, the | ||
provisions shall have full force and effect. | ||
(b) Mindful of Leavitt v. Jane L., 518 U.S. 137 (1996), in | ||
which in the context of determining the severability of a state | ||
statute regulating abortion the United States Supreme Court held | ||
that an explicit statement of legislative intent is controlling, 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, 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, the remaining applications of that provision to all other | ||
persons and circumstances shall be severed and may not be | ||
affected. All constitutionally valid applications of this Act | ||
shall be severed from any applications that a court finds to be | ||
invalid, leaving the valid applications in force, because it is the | ||
legislature's intent and priority that the valid applications be | ||
allowed to stand alone. Even if a reviewing court finds a | ||
provision of this Act to impose an undue burden in a large or | ||
substantial fraction of relevant cases, the applications that do | ||
not present an undue burden shall be severed from the remaining | ||
provisions and shall remain in force, and shall be treated as if the | ||
legislature had enacted a statute limited to the persons, group of | ||
persons, or circumstances for which the statute's application does | ||
not present an undue burden. The legislature further declares that | ||
it would have passed this Act, and each provision, section, | ||
subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word, and all | ||
constitutional applications of this Act, irrespective of the fact | ||
that any provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, | ||
or word, or applications of this Act, were to be declared | ||
unconstitutional or to represent an undue burden. | ||
(c) If any provision of this Act is found by any court to be | ||
unconstitutionally vague, then the applications of that provision | ||
that do not present constitutional vagueness problems shall be | ||
severed and remain in force. | ||
SECTION 5. The change in law made by this Act applies only | ||
to an abortion performed on or after the effective date of this | ||
Act. An abortion performed before the effective date of this Act | ||
is governed by the law in effect on the date the abortion was | ||
performed, and the former law is continued in effect for that | ||
purpose. | ||
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
Act takes effect September 1, 2017. | ||
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