Bill Text: TX SB5 | 2013 | 83rd Legislature 1st Special Session | Engrossed

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Bill Title: Relating to the regulation of abortion procedures, providers, and facilities; providing penalties.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Republican 10-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2013-06-25 - Statement(s) submitted [SB5 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-SB5-Engrossed.html

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By: Hegar, et al. S.B. No. 5

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the regulation of abortion procedures, providers, and
facilities; providing penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 171, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 171.0031 to read as follows:
Sec. 171.0031. REQUIREMENTS OF PHYSICIAN; OFFENSE. (a) A
physician performing or inducing an abortion:
(1) must, on the date the abortion is performed, have
active admitting privileges at a hospital that:
(A) is located not further than 30 miles from the
location at which the abortion is performed or induced; and
(B) provides obstetrical or gynecological health
care services; and
(2) shall provide the pregnant woman with:
(A) a telephone number by which the pregnant
woman may reach the physician, or other health care personnel
employed by the physician or by the facility at which the abortion
was performed with access to the woman's relevant medical records,
24 hours a day to request assistance for any complications that
arise from the performance of the abortion or ask health-related
questions regarding the abortion; and
(B) the name and telephone number of the nearest
hospital to the home of the pregnant woman at which an emergency
arising from the abortion would be treated.
(b) A physician who violates Subsection (a) commits an
offense. An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor
punishable by a fine only, not to exceed $4,000.
SECTION 2. Chapter 171, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Subchapter C to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER C. ABORTION-INDUCING DRUGS
Sec. 171.041. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Abortion-inducing drug" means a drug, a medicine,
or any other substance, including a regimen of two or more drugs,
medicines, or substances, prescribed, dispensed, or administered
with the intent of terminating a clinically diagnosable pregnancy
of a woman and with knowledge that the termination will, with
reasonable likelihood, cause the death of the woman's unborn child.
The term includes off-label use of drugs, medicines, or other
substances known to have abortion-inducing properties that are
prescribed, dispensed, or administered with the intent of causing
an abortion, including the Mifeprex regimen. The term does not
include a drug, medicine, or other substance that may be known to
cause an abortion but is prescribed, dispensed, or administered for
other medical reasons.
(2) "Final printed label" or "FPL" means the
informational document approved by the United States Food and Drug
Administration for an abortion-inducing drug that:
(A) outlines the protocol authorized by that
agency and agreed to by the drug company applying for authorization
of the drug by that agency; and
(B) delineates how a drug is to be used according
to approval by that agency.
(3) "Gestational age" means the amount of time that
has elapsed since the first day of a woman's last menstrual period.
(4) "Medical abortion" means the administration or use
of an abortion-inducing drug to induce an abortion.
(5) "Mifeprex regimen," "RU-486 regimen," or "RU-486"
means the abortion-inducing drug regimen approved by the United
States Food and Drug Administration that consists of administering
mifepristone and misoprostal.
(6) "Physician" means an individual who is licensed to
practice medicine in this state, including a medical doctor and a
doctor of osteopathic medicine.
(7) "Pregnant" means the female reproductive
condition of having an unborn child in a woman's uterus.
(8) "Unborn child" means an offspring of human beings
from conception until birth.
Sec. 171.0411. APPLICABILITY TO MEDICAL ABORTION. This
subchapter does not apply to an abortion with the intent to:
(1) save the life or preserve the health of an unborn
child;
(2) remove a dead, unborn child whose death was caused
by spontaneous abortion;
(3) remove an ectopic pregnancy; or
(4) treat a maternal disease or illness for which a
prescribed drug, medicine, or other substance is indicated.
Sec. 171.042. ENFORCEMENT BY TEXAS MEDICAL BOARD.
Notwithstanding Section 171.005, the Texas Medical Board shall
enforce this subchapter.
Sec. 171.043. DISTRIBUTION OF ABORTION-INDUCING DRUG.
(a) A person may not knowingly give, sell, dispense, administer,
provide, or prescribe an abortion-inducing drug to a pregnant woman
for the purpose of inducing an abortion in the pregnant woman or
enabling another person to induce an abortion in the pregnant woman
unless:
(1) the person who gives, sells, dispenses,
administers, provides, or prescribes the abortion-inducing drug is
a physician;
(2) the physician administering the abortion-inducing
drug administers the drug to the woman while both are present at an
abortion facility licensed under Chapter 245; and
(3) the provision, prescription, or administration of
the abortion-inducing drug, except as provided by Subsection (a-1),
satisfies the protocol tested and authorized by the United States
Food and Drug Administration as outlined in the final printed label
of the abortion-inducing drug.
(a-1) A person may provide, prescribe, or administer the
abortion-inducing drug in the dosage amount prescribed by the
clinical management guidelines defined by the American Congress of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists Practice Bulletin as those
guidelines existed on January 1, 2013.
(b) Before the physician gives, sells, dispenses,
administers, provides, or prescribes an abortion-inducing drug,
the physician must examine the pregnant woman and document, in the
woman's medical record, the gestational age and intrauterine
location of the pregnancy.
(c) The physician who gives, sells, dispenses, administers,
provides, or prescribes an abortion-inducing drug shall provide the
pregnant woman with:
(1) a copy of the final printed label of that
abortion-inducing drug; and
(2) a telephone number by which the pregnant woman may
reach the physician, or other health care personnel employed by the
physician or by the facility at which the abortion was performed
with access to the woman's relevant medical records, 24 hours a day
to request assistance for any complications that arise from the
administration or use of the drug or ask health-related questions
regarding the administration or use of the drug.
(d) The physician who gives, sells, dispenses, administers,
provides, or prescribes the abortion-inducing drug, or the
physician's agent, must schedule a follow-up visit for the woman to
occur not more than 14 days after the administration or use of the
drug. At the follow-up visit, the physician must:
(1) confirm that the pregnancy is completely
terminated; and
(2) assess the degree of bleeding.
(e) The physician who gives, sells, dispenses, administers,
provides, or prescribes the abortion-inducing drug, or the
physician's agent, shall make a reasonable effort to ensure that
the woman returns for the scheduled follow-up visit under
Subsection (d). The physician or the physician's agent shall
document a brief description of any effort made to comply with this
subsection, including the date, time, and name of the person making
the effort, in the woman's medical record.
(f) If a physician gives, sells, dispenses, administers,
provides, or prescribes an abortion-inducing drug to a pregnant
woman for the purpose of inducing an abortion as authorized by this
section and the physician knows that the woman experiences a
serious adverse event, as defined by the MedWatch Reporting System,
during or after the administration or use of the drug, the physician
shall report the event to the United States Food and Drug
Administration through the MedWatch Reporting System not later than
the third day after the date the physician learns that the event
occurred.
Sec. 171.044. ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTY. (a) The Texas
Medical Board may take disciplinary action under Chapter 164,
Occupations Code, or assess an administrative penalty under
Subchapter A, Chapter 165, Occupations Code, against a person who
violates Section 171.043.
(b) A penalty may not be assessed under this section against
a pregnant woman who receives a medical abortion.
SECTION 3. Subsection (a), Section 245.010, Health and
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) The rules must contain minimum standards to protect the
health and safety of a patient of an abortion facility and must
contain provisions requiring compliance with the requirements of
Subchapter B, Chapter 171. On and after September 1, 2014, the
minimum standards for an abortion facility must be equivalent to
the minimum standards adopted under Section 243.010 for ambulatory
surgical centers.
SECTION 4. Effective September 1, 2014, Subsection (c),
Section 245.010, Health and Safety Code, is repealed.
SECTION 5. This Act may not be construed to repeal, by
implication or otherwise, Subdivision (18), Subsection (a),
Section 164.052, Occupations Code, Section 170.002, Health and
Safety Code, or any other provision of Texas law regulating or
restricting abortion not specifically addressed by this Act. An
abortion that complies with this Act but violates any other law is
unlawful. An abortion that complies with another state law but
violates this Act is unlawful as provided in this Act.
SECTION 6. (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 7. (a) The executive commissioner of the Health
and Human Services Commission shall adopt the standards required by
Section 245.010, Health and Safety Code, as amended by this Act, not
later than January 1, 2014.
(b) A facility licensed under Chapter 245, Health and Safety
Code, is not required to comply with the standards adopted under
Section 245.010, Health and Safety Code, as amended by this Act,
before September 1, 2014.
SECTION 8. 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 on the 91st day after the last day of the
legislative session.