HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1477        FILED ON: 1/16/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3322

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Sheila C. Harrington

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to unborn children.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Sheila C. Harrington

1st Middlesex

1/16/2019

Colleen M. Garry

36th Middlesex

1/29/2019


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1477        FILED ON: 1/16/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3322

By Mrs. Harrington of Groton, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 3322) of Sheila C. Harrington and Colleen M. Garry relative to the use of anesthesia on a fetus prior to an abortion.  The Judiciary.

 

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 2288 OF 2017-2018.]

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

_______________

 

An Act relative to unborn children.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Chapter 112 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 12M the following section:-

Section 12M½.  For the purpose of preventing fetal pain, no physician shall perform an abortion unless the physician anesthetizes the fetus; except in the following circumstances: (i) in the reasonable clinical judgment of the physician, such administration of anesthesia to the fetus would cause serious risk to the life of the mother; (ii) in the reasonable clinical judgment of the physician, such administration of anesthesia to the fetus would cause serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the mother; (iii) in the reasonable clinical judgment of the physician, the pregnancy has not yet reached 20 weeks gestation; or (iv) the mother directs that anesthesia not be administered to the fetus.