bill repealing the trigger-law abortion ban

The text as introduced · 846 words

By: Bowers
H.B. No. 1987

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the regulation of abortion, including abortion

complication reporting and the repeal of certain laws prohibiting

abortion.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Sections 171.006(a) and (b), Health and Safety

Code, as added by Chapter 4 (H.B. 13), Acts of the 85th Legislature,

1st Called Session, 2017, are amended to read as follows:

(a) In this section, "abortion complication" means any

harmful event or adverse outcome with respect to a patient related

to an abortion that is performed on the patient and that is

diagnosed or treated by a health care practitioner or at a health

care facility and includes:

(1) shock;

(2) uterine perforation;

(3) cervical laceration;

(4) hemorrhage;

(5) aspiration or allergic response;

(6) infection;

(7) sepsis;

(8) death of the patient;

(9) incomplete abortion;

(10) damage to the uterus; or

(11) an infant born alive after the abortion

(b) The reporting requirements of this section apply only

to:

(1) a physician who:

(A) performs at an abortion facility an abortion

that results in an abortion complication diagnosed or treated by

that physician; or

(B) diagnoses or treats at an abortion facility

an abortion complication that is the result of an abortion

performed by another physician at the facility ; or

(2) a health care facility that is a hospital,

abortion facility, freestanding emergency medical care facility,

or health care facility that provides emergency medical care, as

defined by Section 773.003.

SECTION 2. Section 171.061, Health and Safety Code, is

amended by adding Subdivision (3) and amending Subdivision (8-a) to

read as follows:

(3) "Final printed label" 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 the manner in which a drug is to be

used according to approval by that agency.

(8-a) "Provide" means, as used with regard to

abortion-inducing drugs, any act of giving, selling, dispensing,

administering, or otherwise providing or prescribing an

abortion-inducing drug.

SECTION 3. Section 171.063, Health and Safety Code, is

amended by amending Subsections (a), (c), and (e) and adding

Subsection (b) to read as follows:

(a) A person may not knowingly provide 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 provides the abortion-inducing drug

is a physician; and

(2) except as otherwise provided by Subsection (b),

the provision of the abortion-inducing drug 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 .

(b) A person may provide the abortion-inducing drug in the

dosage amount prescribed by the clinical management guidelines

defined by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Practice Bulletin as those guidelines existed on January 1, 2013.

(c) Before the physician provides an abortion-inducing

drug, the physician must:

(1) examine the pregnant woman; and

(2) document, in the woman's medical record, the

gestational age and intrauterine location of the pregnancy

(d) A physician who provides the abortion-inducing drug, or

the physician's agent, must schedule a follow-up visit for the

woman to occur not later than the 14th day after the administration

or use of the abortion-inducing drug . At the follow-up visit, the

physician must:

(1) confirm that the woman's pregnancy is completely

terminated; and

(2) assess any continued blood loss.

SECTION 4. Section 171.206(b), Health and Safety Code, is

amended to read as follows:

(a) This subchapter may not be construed to:

(1) authorize the initiation of a cause of action

against or the prosecution of a woman on whom an abortion is

performed or induced or attempted to be performed or induced in

violation of this subchapter;

(2) wholly or partly repeal, either expressly or by

implication, any other statute that regulates or prohibits

abortion; or

(3) restrict a political subdivision from regulating

or prohibiting abortion in a manner that is at least as stringent as

the laws of this state.

SECTION 5. Section 171.207(b), Health and Safety Code, is

amended to read as follows:

(a) Subsection (a) may not be construed to:

(1) legalize the conduct prohibited by this

subchapter;

(2) limit in any way or affect the availability of a

remedy established by Section 171.208; or

(3) limit the enforceability of any other laws that

regulate or prohibit abortion.

SECTION 6. The following provisions are repealed:

(1) Chapter 170A, Health and Safety Code;

(2) Section 171.061(2-a), Health and Safety Code;

(3) Section 171.063(b-1), Health and Safety Code;

(4) Section 171.0631, Health and Safety Code;

(5) Section 171.0632, Health and Safety Code;

(6) Section 171.065, Health and Safety Code;

(7) Section 171.066, Health and Safety Code; and

(8) Chapter 6-1/2, Title 71, Revised Statutes.

SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.