José Menéndez voted Nay (Passage) on this Legislation.
Title: Changes for Abortion Requirements at Health Care Facilities
Vote to pass a bill that amends abortion complication reporting requirements for health care providers and facilities.
Requires physicians to submit a report to the commission on each abortion complication within 72 hours after the complication is diagnosed or treated and each healthcare facility to submit a report on each abortion complication within 30 days after the complication is diagnosed or treated (Sec. 1).
Defines “abortion complication” as any harmful event or adverse outcome to a patient who had an abortion that is diagnosed or treated by a healthcare practitioner or at a healthcare facility including, but not limited to (Sec. 1):
Uterine perforation;
Cervical laceration;
Hemorrhage;
Sepsis;
Death of the patient;
Incomplete Abortion; or
An infant born alive after the abortion.
Specifies that reporting requirements apply to a physician at an abortion facility that diagnoses or treats an abortion complication that resulted from an abortion performed by that or another physician at that facility or a healthcare facility that provides emergency medical care (Sec. 1).
Requires the commission to develop a form for reporting abortion complications that will be available on the commission’s website (Sec. 1).
Prohibits reports to identify the physician performing the abortion, unless that physician is filing the report, or the patient on whom the abortion was performed (Sec. 1).
Requires reports to include the following (Sec. 1):
The name of the physician submitting the report or the name and type of facility submitting the report;
The date of the abortion;
The type of abortion;
The gestational age of the fetus at the time the abortion was performed;
The date the complication was diagnosed or treated;
The name and type of the facility other than the reporting facility in which the complication was diagnosed or treated;
A description of the complication;
The patient’s year of birth, race, marital status, and state and county of residence;
The date of the first day of the patient’s last menstrual period that occurred before the abortion;
The number of previous live births of the patient; and
The number of previous induced abortions of the patient.
Specifies that all information and records collected are confidential and may not be released or made public on subpoena except in the following cases (Sec. 1):
For statistical purposes if a person, patient, or healthcare facility is not identified;
With the consent of each person, patient, and facility identified in the information released;
To medical personnel, appropriate state agencies, or county and district courts to enforce this law; or
To appropriate state licensing boards to enforce licensing laws.
Specifies that physicians and health care facilities who violate this law are subject to a civil penalty of $500 for each violation (Sec. 1).
Specifies that a third violation of this law constitutes cause for the revocation or suspension of a physician’s or healthcare facility’s license, permit, registration, certificate, or other authority or for other disciplinary action against the physician or facility by the appropriate licensing agency (Sec. 1).
Title: Changes for Abortion Requirements at Health Care Facilities