Amendment ID: S2996-15

Amendment 15

Anti-TRAP

Ms. Rausch and Messrs. Eldridge and Hinds move that the proposed new text be amended by inserting, after section 9, the following new sections:-

"SECTION 9A. Said chapter 112, as so appearing, is hereby further amended in section 12I by adding the following sentence:- No conscientious objection shall be valid if an abortion is required to preserve the life of the pregnant person and no health care provider other than the objector is available to perform or support the performance of the abortion.

SECTION 9B. Said chapter 112, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking out section 12R and inserting in place thereof the following 2 sections:-

Section 12R. A health care provider shall obtain a pregnant person’s written informed consent prior to performing an abortion in a form prescribed by the commissioner of the department of public health, and a pregnant person shall execute said informed consent form prior to receiving an abortion, except: (1) in an emergency, when an abortion is required to preserve the health of the pregnant person, in which case the provider may perform the abortion without an executed informed consent form; or (2) when a pregnant person is incapacitated due to vegetative state, and said pregnant person was incapacitated prior to and at all times during the pregnancy, and another person serves as legally valid health care proxy for the pregnant person, in which case the health care proxy shall execute the informed consent form. A pregnant person’s signature on the consent form shall be valid without regard to the pregnant person’s age. No waiting period shall be imposed between the execution of the consent form and the performance of the abortion. Providers shall maintain an executed informed consent form in a manner consistent with retention of other medical records and for a period of 7 years after the date on which the abortion is performed, after which time the provider shall destroy the form.

The consent form and any other forms or related documents shall be confidential and shall not be released to any other person except by the patient’s written informed consent or by a proper judicial order, other than to the patient themselves, to whom such documents relate, the provider who performed the abortion or any person whose consent is obtained pursuant to this section or under any other applicable state or federal law.

Section 12S. (a) No pregnant person shall be required, as a precondition to receiving an abortion or abortion-related service, to: (i) wait for any period of time beyond the standard of care or as may be operationally necessary after executing the informed consent form required by this chapter to initiate an abortion or abortion-related care; (ii) undergo an ultrasound inconsistent with the standard of care; (iii) review, see, or hear the results of an ultrasound; (iv) appear at an abortion provider facility for purposes of receiving an abortion or abortion-related care more than is consistent with the standard of care; or (v) receive counseling or information in any format or medium that is medically inaccurate, medically unnecessary, or misleading.

(b) Provider facilities shall not be required to: (i) affiliate in any way with, or be constructed within a specified distance of, a hospital, as defined in section 52 of chapter 111; (ii) comply or substantially comply with the licensure requirements for clinics providing ambulatory surgery, consistent with section 51 of chapter 111, unless the provider facility otherwise operates as a free standing ambulatory surgical center; (iii) construct or maintain medically unnecessary physical structures, sizes, or spaces; (iv) hire only providers with admitting privileges at a hospital, as defined in section 52 of chapter 111; or (v) comply with any other medically unnecessary physical or operational standard or requirement.

(c) The Attorney General shall enforce this section, provided that nothing herein shall preclude a private right of action asserting violations thereof. All actions must be commenced within ten years after the cause of action accrues."