SPONSOR: Coleman (97)
This bill establishes the "Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act". A child born alive during or after an abortion or attempted abortion shall have the same rights, privileges, and immunities as any other person, citizen, and resident of Missouri, including any other live-born child. Any licensed, registered, or certified health care provider present at the time a child is born alive during or after an abortion or attempted abortion shall exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious provider would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age, as well as ensure that the child is transported and admitted to a hospital following such care.
The bill also declares that a person shall be civilly liable when he or she: (1) Knowingly, recklessly, or negligently causes the death of a child born alive during or after an abortion or attempted abortion; (2) Knowingly fails to comply with the health care provider standards of care described in this bill; (3) Knowingly performs or induces, or attempts to perform or induce, an unlawful abortion; (4) Knowingly aids or abets another person to undergo a self- induced abortion or attempted self-induced abortion or to procure an unlawful abortion or attempted unlawful abortion; (5) Knowingly, recklessly, or negligently supplies or makes available any instrument, device, medicine, drug, or any other means or substance for another person to undergo a self-induced abortion or attempted self-induced abortion or to procure an unlawful abortion or attempted unlawful abortion; or (6) Knowingly incites, solicits, or otherwise uses speech or writing as an integral part of conduct in violation of a valid criminal statute to influence another person to undergo a self- induced abortion or attempted self-induced abortion or to procure an unlawful abortion or attempted unlawful abortion. A cause of action for personal injury, bodily injury, or wrongful death may be brought if injury or death arises out of or results from any of these circumstances to:
(1) A person upon whom an unlawful abortion or attempted unlawful abortion was performed or induced;
(2) A person who underwent a self-induced abortion or attempted self-induced abortion or who procured an unlawful abortion or attempted unlawful abortion; (3) A child who was born alive during or after an abortion or attempted abortion; or
(4) An unborn child.
In a cause of action for wrongful death, the spouse, partner, parents, siblings, and children of the deceased person, child, or unborn child shall be entitled to bring the action and receive damages, attorney fees, and other costs as described in the bill. A defendant may not plead or prove a defense that the plaintiff assumed or otherwise consented to certain risks involving self- induced or unlawful abortions or attempted self-induced or unlawful abortions (Section 188.035, RSMo).
Furthermore, this bill declares that any federal act, law, executive order, administrative order, rule, or regulation shall not infringe on the right of the people of Missouri to:
(1) Protect state sovereignty and state taxpayers by restricting public funds, public facilities, and public employees from being used to perform, induce, or assist in an abortion, except as provided in state statutes;
(2) Encourage childbirth over abortion in the use of the state's public funds, public facilities, and public employees;
(3) Defend the religious beliefs or moral convictions of any person who, or entity which, does not want to be forced to directly or indirectly fund or participate in abortion;
(4) Prevent the state or its political subdivisions from being coerced, compelled, or commandeered by the federal government to enact, administer, or enforce a federal regulatory program that directly or indirectly funds abortion; and
(5) Prohibit the federal government from commanding or conscripting public officials of the state or its political subdivisions to enforce a federal regulatory program that directly or indirectly funds abortion.
If a taxpayer takes action to enforce the provisions of the bill, a court may order injunctive or other equitable relief, recovery of damages or other legal remedies, or both, as well as payment of reasonable attorney's fees, costs, and expenses of the taxpayer (Section 188.202).
This bill makes it unlawful for any public funds to be expended to any abortion facility, or to any affiliate or associate of such abortion facility (Section 188.207). This bill also repeals Sections 188.056, 188.057, and 188.058. It also defines certain terms as they relate to abortion. The bill also adds that physician's abortion reports must include the time, date, method, and results of the heartbeat test performed prior to the abortion as required in this bill.
Furthermore, the bill notes that the General Assembly holds that:
(1) Fetal heartbeat has become a key medical predictor that an unborn child will reach live birth;
(2) Cardiac activity begins at a biologically identifiable moment in time, normally when the fetal heartbeat is formed in the gestational sac;
(3) The state of Missouri has compelling interests from the outset of a woman's pregnancy in protecting the health of the woman and the life of the unborn child; and
(4) To make an informed choice about whether to continue her pregnancy, the pregnant woman has a compelling interest in knowing the likelihood of her unborn child surviving to full-term birth based on the presence of cardiac activity.
The bill prohibits physicians from knowingly performing or inducing an abortion unless the physician has determined whether the woman's unborn child has a detectable fetal heartbeat, which should be documented in the woman's medical records. The exception is if the physician believes a medical emergency exists that prevents compliance with the provisions in this bill. However, if an emergency is believed to be prevalent, the physicians shall write in the woman's medical records:
(1) The physician's belief that a medical emergency necessitated the abortion; and
(2) The medical conditions of the pregnant woman that prevented compliance.
The requirements in this bill do not apply to an abortion performed at the behest of federal agencies, contractors, or employees that are carrying out duties under federal law if the enforcement of those requirements would violate the doctrines of preemption or intergovernmental immunity.
The requirements in this bill shall be enforced exclusively through the private civil actions as described in this bill. The bill also describes the affirmative defenses a defendant may assert as long as the United States Supreme Court does not overrule Roe v. Wade or Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
The bill also describes the state's intentions, immunities and the severability of the provisions within the bill (Section 188.900).
The bill also repeals a provision in current statute that allows any person entitled to MO HealthNet benefits to obtain benefits from any provider of services with which an agreement is in effect and which undertakes to provide the services, as authorized by the MO HealthNet Division(Section 208.153).
This bill creates provisions requiring the Department of Social Services or its divisions to suspend, revoke, or cancel any contract or provider agreement or refuse to enter into a new contract or provider agreement with any provider where it is determined that such provider is not qualified to perform the service or services required because such provider, or such provider's agent, servant, or employee acting under such provider's authority, has:
(1) A conviction related to the delivery of any item or service under Medicare or under any state health care program;
(2) A conviction related to the neglect or abuse of a patient in connection with the delivery of any health care item or service;
(3) A felony conviction related to health care fraud, theft, embezzlement, breach of fiduciary responsibility, or other financial misconduct;
(4) A felony conviction related to the unlawful manufacture, distribution, prescription, or dispensation of a controlled substance;
(5) Been found guilty of a pattern of intentional discrimination in the delivery or nondelivery of any health care item or service based on the race, color, or national origin of recipients, or was founded by a person who supported eugenics as the solution for racial, political, and social problems and who advocated for the use of birth control for "the elimination of the unfit" and stopping "the reproduction of the unfit"; or
(6) Been defined as an abortion facility, as defined in Section 188.015, RSMo, or an affiliate or associate of such abortion facility (Section 208.164).
Statutes affected: