Bill Text: VA SB1054 | 2019 | Regular Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: Abortion; ultrasound.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-01-17 - Incorporated by Education and Health [SB1054 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2019-SB1054-Prefiled.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §18.2-76 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§18.2-76. Informed written consent required; civil penalty.
A. Before performing any abortion or inducing any miscarriage or terminating a pregnancy as provided in §18.2-72, 18.2-73, or 18.2-74, the physician shall obtain the informed written consent of the pregnant woman. However, if the woman has been adjudicated incapacitated by any court of competent jurisdiction or if the physician knows or has good reason to believe that such woman is incapacitated as adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction, then only after permission is given in writing by a parent, guardian, committee, or other person standing in loco parentis to the woman, may the physician perform the abortion or otherwise terminate the pregnancy.
B. At least 24 hours
before the performance of an abortion, a qualified medical professional trained
in sonography and working under the supervision of a physician licensed in the
Commonwealth shall perform fetal transabdominal ultrasound imaging on the
patient undergoing the abortion for the purpose of determining gestational age.
If the pregnant woman lives at least 100 miles from the facility where the
abortion is to be performed, the fetal ultrasound imaging shall be performed at
least two hours before the abortion. The ultrasound image shall contain the
dimensions of the fetus and accurately portray the presence of external members
and internal organs of the fetus, if present or viewable. Determination of
gestational age shall be based upon measurement of the fetus in a manner
consistent with standard medical practice in the community for determining
gestational age. When only the gestational sac is visible during ultrasound
imaging, gestational age may be based upon measurement of the gestational sac.
If gestational age cannot be determined by a transabdominal ultrasound, then
the patient undergoing the abortion shall be verbally offered other ultrasound
imaging to determine gestational age, which she may refuse. A print of the
ultrasound image shall be made to document the measurements that have been
taken to determine the gestational age of the fetus.
The provisions of
this subsection shall not apply if the woman seeking an abortion is the victim
of rape or incest, if the incident was reported to law-enforcement authorities.
Nothing herein shall preclude the physician from using any ultrasound imaging
that he considers to be medically appropriate pursuant to the standard medical
practice in the community.
C. The qualified
medical professional performing fetal ultrasound imaging pursuant to subsection
B shall verbally offer the woman an opportunity to view the ultrasound image,
receive a printed copy of the ultrasound image and hear the fetal heart tones
pursuant to standard medical practice in the community, and shall obtain from
the woman written certification that this opportunity was offered and whether
or not it was accepted and, if applicable, verification that the pregnant woman
lives at least 100 miles from the facility where the abortion is to be
performed. A printed copy of the ultrasound image shall be maintained in the
woman's medical record at the facility where the abortion is to be performed
for the longer of (i) seven years or (ii) the extent required by applicable
federal or state law.
D.
For purposes of this section:
"Informed written consent" means the knowing and voluntary written consent to abortion by a pregnant woman of any age, without undue inducement or any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, or other form of constraint or coercion by the physician who is to perform the abortion or his agent. The basic information to effect such consent, as required by this subsection, shall be provided by telephone or in person to the woman at least 24 hours before the abortion by the physician who is to perform the abortion, by a referring physician, or by a licensed professional or practical nurse working under the direct supervision of either the physician who is to perform the abortion or the referring physician; however, the information in subdivision 5 may be provided instead by a licensed health-care professional working under the direct supervision of either the physician who is to perform the abortion or the referring physician. This basic information shall include:
1. A full, reasonable and comprehensible medical explanation of the nature, benefits, and risks of and alternatives to the proposed procedures or protocols to be followed in her particular case;
2. An instruction that the woman may withdraw her consent at any time prior to the performance of the procedure;
3. An offer for the woman to speak with the physician who is to perform the abortion so that he may answer any questions that the woman may have and provide further information concerning the procedures and protocols;
4. A statement of the probable gestational age of the fetus at
the time the abortion is to be performed and that fetal
ultrasound imaging shall be performed prior to the abortion to confirm the
gestational age; and
5. An offer to review the printed materials described in
subsection F D.
If the woman chooses to review such materials, they shall be provided to her in
a respectful and understandable manner, without prejudice and intended to give
the woman the opportunity to make an informed choice and shall be provided to
her at least 24 hours before the abortion or mailed to her at least 72 hours
before the abortion by first-class mail or, if the woman requests, by certified
mail, restricted delivery. This offer for the woman to review the material
shall advise her of the following: (i) the Department of Health publishes
printed materials that describe the unborn child and list agencies that offer
alternatives to abortion; (ii) medical assistance benefits may be available for
prenatal care, childbirth and neonatal care, and that more detailed information
on the availability of such assistance is contained in the printed materials
published by the Department; (iii) the father of the unborn child is liable to
assist in the support of her child, even in instances where he has offered to
pay for the abortion, that assistance in the collection of such support is
available, and that more detailed information on the availability of such
assistance is contained in the printed materials published by the Department; and (iv) she has the right to
review the materials printed by the Department and that copies will be provided
to her free of charge if she chooses to review them;
and (v) a statewide list of public and private agencies and services that
provide ultrasound imaging and auscultation of fetal heart tone services free
of charge. Where the woman has advised that the pregnancy
is the result of a rape, the information in clause (iii) may be omitted.
The information required by this subsection may be provided by
telephone or
in person without conducting
a physical examination of or tests upon the woman, in which case the
information required to be provided may be based on facts supplied by the woman
and whatever other relevant information is reasonably available to the
physician. If a physical examination, tests, or the availability of other
information to the physician or the nurse subsequently indicates, in the
medical judgment of the physician or the nurse, a revision of the information
previously supplied to the woman, that revised information may be communicated
to the woman at any time prior to the performance of the abortion.
E. C. The
physician need not obtain the informed written consent of the woman when the
abortion is to be performed pursuant to a medical emergency or spontaneous
miscarriage. "Medical emergency" means any condition which, on the
basis of the physician's good faith clinical judgment, so complicates the
medical condition of a pregnant woman as to necessitate the immediate abortion
of her pregnancy to avert her death or for which a delay will create a serious
risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.
F. D. On or
before October 1, 2001, the Department of Health shall publish, in English and in
each language which is the primary language of two percent or more of the
population of the Commonwealth, the following printed materials in such a way
as to ensure that the information is easily comprehensible:
1. Geographically indexed materials designed to inform the
woman of public and private agencies and services available to assist a woman
through pregnancy, upon childbirth and while the child is dependent, including,
but not limited to, information on services relating to (i) adoption as a positive
alternative, (ii) information relative to counseling services, benefits,
financial assistance, medical care and contact persons or groups, (iii)
paternity establishment and child support enforcement, (iv) child development,
(v) child rearing and stress management, and
(vi) pediatric and maternal health care, and (vii) public
and private agencies and services that provide ultrasound imaging and
auscultation of fetal heart tone services free of charge.
The materials shall include a comprehensive list of the names and telephone
numbers of the agencies, or, at the option of the Department of Health, printed
materials including a toll-free, 24-hour-a-day telephone number which may be
called to obtain, orally, such a list and description of agencies in the locality
of the caller and of the services they offer;
2. Materials designed to inform the woman of the probable anatomical and physiological characteristics of the human fetus at two-week gestational increments from the time when a woman can be known to be pregnant to full term, including any relevant information on the possibility of the fetus's survival and pictures or drawings representing the development of the human fetus at two-week gestational increments. Such pictures or drawings shall contain the dimensions of the fetus and shall be realistic and appropriate for the stage of pregnancy depicted. The materials shall be objective, nonjudgmental and designed to convey only accurate scientific information about the human fetus at the various gestational ages; and
3. Materials containing objective information describing the methods of abortion procedures commonly employed, the medical risks commonly associated with each such procedure, the possible detrimental psychological effects of abortion, and the medical risks commonly associated with carrying a child to term.
The Department of Health shall make these materials available at each local health department and, upon request, to any person or entity, in reasonable numbers and without cost to the requesting party.
G. E. Any
physician who fails to comply with the provisions of this section shall be
subject to a $2,500 civil penalty.