CSSB 30(JUD): "An Act relating to information and services available to pregnant women and other persons; and ensuring informed consent before an abortion may be performed, except in cases of medical emergency."
00 CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 30(JUD) 01 "An Act relating to information and services available to pregnant women and other 02 persons; and ensuring informed consent before an abortion may be performed, except in 03 cases of medical emergency." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 06 to read: 07 LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS. The legislature finds that 08 (1) duties of the state include regulating medical practice and fostering the 09 development of standards of professional conduct in a critical area of practice; 10 (2) the state is interested in protecting the life and health of pregnant women; 11 (3) women have a right to know the medical risks associated with their 12 reproductive options; 13 (4) the creation of an unbiased, scientific information site on the Internet that 14 sufficiently describes reproductive options and their potential consequences will protect,
01 inform, and promote a woman's free and private choices between permanent and life-affecting 02 alternatives; 03 (5) the creation of an unbiased, scientific information site on the Internet that 04 sufficiently describes reproductive options and their potential consequences will reduce costly 05 and undue litigation, will promote judicial economy and resources, and will provide 06 physicians with a clear understanding of what constitutes informed consent for abortion by 07 providing immunity to physicians who use the information from the Internet site; 08 (6) considerable testimony has been received at legislative hearings during the 09 last three years indicating that women have obtained abortions in Alaska without considering 10 sufficient information. 11 * Sec. 2. AS 18.05 is amended by adding a new section to read: 12 Sec. 18.05.032. Information relating to pregnancy and pregnancy 13 alternatives. (a) The department shall maintain on the Internet, in printable form, 14 standard information that 15 (1) contains geographically indexed material designed to inform a 16 person of public and private agencies and services that are available to assist a 17 pregnant woman with the woman's reproductive choices; the department should 18 include information about at least the following types of agencies and services: 19 (A) agencies and services designed to assist a woman through 20 pregnancy, including adoption agencies and counseling services; and 21 (B) clinics and facilities that provide abortion options and 22 counseling and post-abortion counseling and services; 23 (2) includes a comprehensive regional directory of the agencies and 24 clinics identified by the department under (1) of this subsection, a description of the 25 services they offer, and the manner in which the agencies and clinics may be 26 contacted, including telephone numbers; 27 (3) provides information concerning eligibility to obtain medical 28 assistance benefits for prenatal care, childbirth, and neonatal care, as well as 29 information concerning eligibility to obtain medical assistance benefits for abortion 30 services; 31 (4) states that informed and voluntary consent is required under
01 AS 18.16.060 for an abortion; 02 (5) states that the father of a child is liable to assist in the support of 03 the child even in instances where the father has offered to pay for an abortion, and that 04 the law permits adoptive parents to pay costs of prenatal care, childbirth, and neonatal 05 care; 06 (6) describes the fetal development of a typical unborn child at two- 07 week gestational increments from fertilization to full-term, including photographs 08 depicting the anatomical characteristics of a typical unborn child at two-week 09 gestational increments, and relevant information about the possibility of an unborn 10 child's survival at the various gestational ages; the fetal dimensions in the photographs 11 must be accurately represented and shall be realistic and appropriate for the gestational 12 age of an unborn child; the information must be objective, nonjudgmental, and 13 designed to convey only accurate scientific information about unborn children at 14 various gestational ages; 15 (7) contains objective, unbiased information that describes the methods 16 of abortion procedures and treatments commonly employed and the medical risks and 17 possible complications commonly associated with each procedure and treatment, as 18 well as the possible psychological effects that have been associated with having an 19 abortion; 20 (8) contains objective, unbiased information describing the possible 21 medical risks and complications commonly associated with pregnancy and childbirth, 22 as well as the possible psychological effects that have been associated with carrying an 23 unborn child to term. 24 (b) The information required under (a) of this section must be written in easily 25 comprehensible language and must be displayed in a typeface that is large enough to 26 be clearly legible. 27 (c) In this section, 28 (1) "fertilization" means the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a 29 human ovum; 30 (2) "gestational age" means the age of the unborn child as calculated 31 from the first day of the last menstrual period of a pregnant woman;
01 (3) "informed consent" means consent that would be considered 02 voluntary and informed under AS 18.16.060(b); 03 (4) "unborn child" means the offspring of a human being in utero at 04 various stages of biological development. 05 * Sec. 3. AS 18.16.010(a) is amended to read: 06 (a) An abortion may not be performed in this state unless 07 (1) the abortion is performed by a physician or surgeon licensed by the 08 State Medical Board under AS 08.64.200; 09 (2) the abortion is performed in a hospital or other facility approved for 10 the purpose by the Department of Health and Social Services or a hospital operated by 11 the federal government or an agency of the federal government; 12 (3) before an abortion is knowingly performed or induced on an 13 unmarried, unemancipated woman under 17 years of age, consent has been given as 14 required under AS 18.16.020 or a court has authorized the minor to consent to the 15 abortion under AS 18.16.030 and the minor consents; for purposes of enforcing this 16 paragraph, there is a rebuttable presumption that a woman who is unmarried and under 17 17 years of age is unemancipated; [AND] 18 (4) the woman is domiciled or physically present in the state for 30 19 days before the abortion; and 20 (5) the applicable requirements of AS 18.16.060 have been 21 satisfied. 22 * Sec. 4. AS 18.16.010 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 23 (h) A person who performs or induces an abortion in violation of (a)(5) of this 24 section is civilly liable to the pregnant woman for compensatory and punitive damages 25 except that a person is immune from liability, for purposes of an action for damages 26 under this subsection for failure to comply with AS 18.16.060(b)(1)(C), if the person 27 demonstrates by a preponderance of the evidence that the person gave to the woman a 28 written copy of the material maintained on the Internet under AS 18.05.032 before the 29 abortion was performed or induced. In a civil action under this subsection, there is a 30 rebuttable presumption that an abortion was performed without the pregnant woman's 31 informed consent if the physician who performed the abortion does not submit into
01 evidence the copy of the woman's written certification required to be retained in the 02 patient's files under AS 18.16.060(b)(3). 03 * Sec. 5. AS 18.16 is amended by adding a new section to read: 04 Sec. 18.16.060. Informed consent requirements. (a) Except in the case of a 05 medical emergency, a person may not knowingly perform or induce an abortion 06 without the voluntary and informed consent of 07 (1) a woman on whom an abortion is to be performed or induced; 08 (2) the parent, guardian, or custodian of a pregnant, unemancipated 09 minor if required under AS 18.16.020; or 10 (3) a pregnant, unemancipated minor if authorized by a court under 11 AS 18.60.030. 12 (b) Consent to an abortion is voluntary and informed when all of the following 13 conditions have been met: 14 (1) at least 24 hours before the abortion procedure, the physician who 15 is to perform the abortion or the referring physician has orally informed the woman or 16 another person whose consent is required of the 17 (A) name of the physician who will perform the procedure; 18 (B) gestational estimation of the pregnancy at the time the 19 abortion is to be performed; 20 (C) nature and risks of undergoing or not undergoing the 21 proposed procedure that a reasonable patient would consider material to 22 making a voluntary and informed decision of whether to undergo the 23 procedure; and 24 (D) availability of the information required to be maintained on 25 the Internet under AS 18.05.032; if the person requests a written copy of the 26 Internet information, the physician shall provide it; 27 (2) before the abortion, the woman or another person whose consent is 28 required certifies in writing that the information required to be given under (1) of this 29 subsection has been provided; and 30 (3) the physician who is to perform the abortion or a representative of 31 the physician receives a copy of the written certificate required under (2) of this
01 subsection and retains a copy in the patient's file. 02 (c) The information required in (b)(1) of this section shall be provided 03 individually and in a private setting to protect privacy, maintain the confidentiality of 04 the decision, ensure that the information focuses on the individual circumstances, and 05 ensure an adequate opportunity to ask questions. 06 (d) In this section, "medical emergency" means a condition that, on the basis 07 of a physician's good faith clinical judgment, so complicates the medical condition of 08 a pregnant woman that 09 (1) the immediate termination of the woman's pregnancy is necessary 10 to avert the woman's death; or 11 (2) a delay in providing an abortion will create serious risk of 12 substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the woman. 13 * Sec. 6. AS 18.50.245(e) is amended to read: 14 (e) The state registrar shall adopt regulations to implement this section. The 15 regulations that establish the information that will be required in a report of an induced 16 termination of pregnancy must require information substantially similar to the 17 information required under the United States Standard Report of Induced Termination 18 of Pregnancy, as published by the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for 19 Disease Control and Prevention, United States Department of Health and Human 20 Services, in April 1998, as part of DHHS Publication No. (PHS) 98-1117. The report 21 must also include, if known, whether the patient requested and received a written 22 copy of the information required to be maintained on the Internet under 23 AS 18.05.032. 24 * Sec. 7. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 25 read: 26 SEVERABILITY. Under AS 01.10.030, the provisions of this Act are severable.