GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2013

S                                                                                                                                                    D

SENATE DRS75166-LU-38A  (01/08)

 

 

 

Short Title:        Amend Woman's Right to Know Act.

(Public)

Sponsors:

Senators Daniel, Randleman, and Hunt (Primary Sponsors).

Referred to:

 

 

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT amending the woman's right to know act.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 90-21.82(1) reads as rewritten:

"§ 90-21.82.  Informed consent to abortion.

No abortion shall be performed upon a woman in this State without her voluntary and informed consent. Except in the case of a medical emergency, consent to an abortion is voluntary and informed only if all of the following conditions are satisfied:

(1)        At least 24 hours prior to the abortion, a physician or qualified professional has orally informed the woman, by telephone or in person, of all of the following:

a.         The To ensure the safety of the procedure and prompt medical attention to any complications that may arise, the name of the physician who will perform the abortion. The physician performing the abortion shall be physically present (i) during the performance of the entire abortion procedure and (ii) on the premises immediately available to the patient while the patient is recovering from the procedure and until the patient leaves the premises.

b.         The particular medical risks associated with the particular abortion procedure to be employed, including, when medically accurate, the risks of infection, hemorrhage, cervical tear or uterine perforation, danger to subsequent pregnancies, including the ability to carry a child to full term, and any adverse psychological effects associated with the abortion.

c.         The probable gestational age of the unborn child at the time the abortion is to be performed.

d.         The medical risks associated with carrying the child to term.

e.         The display of a real-time view of the unborn child and heart tone monitoring that enable the pregnant woman to view her unborn child or listen to the heartbeat of the unborn child are available to the woman. The physician performing the abortion, qualified technician, or referring physician shall inform the woman that the printed materials and Web site described in G.S. 90-21.83 and G.S. 90-21.84 contain phone numbers and addresses for facilities that offer the services free of charge. If requested by the woman, the physician or qualified professional shall provide to the woman the list as compiled by the Department.

f.          If the physician who is to perform the abortion has no liability insurance for malpractice in the performance or attempted performance of an abortion, that information shall be communicated.

g.         The location of the hospital that offers obstetrical or gynecological care located within 30 miles of the location where the abortion is performed or induced and at which the physician performing or inducing the abortion has clinicalhospital admitting privileges. If the physician who will perform the abortion has no local hospital admitting privileges, that information shall be communicated.To comply with the requirements of this sub-subdivision, a physician performing an abortion shall have admitting privileges to a hospital located within 30 miles of the place where the abortion is performed.

            If the physician or qualified professional does not know the information required in sub-subdivisions a., f., or g. of this subdivision, the woman shall be advised that this information will be directly available from the physician who is to perform the abortion. However, the fact that the physician or qualified professional does not know the information required in sub-subdivisions a., f., or g. shall not restart the 24-hour period. The information required by this subdivision shall be provided in English and in each language that is the primary language of at least two percent (2%) of the State's population. The information may be provided orally either by telephone or in person, in which case the required information may be based on facts supplied by the woman to the physician and whatever other relevant information is reasonably available. The information required by this subdivision may not be provided by a tape recording but shall be provided during a consultation in which the physician is able to ask questions of the patient and the patient is able to ask questions of the physician. If, in the medical judgment of the physician, a physical examination, tests, or the availability of other information to the physician subsequently indicates a revision of the information previously supplied to the patient, then that revised information may be communicated to the patient at any time before the performance of the abortion. Nothing in this section may be construed to preclude provision of required information in a language understood by the patient through a translator.

…."

SECTION 2.  G.S. 90-21.83(a) reads as rewritten:

"(a)       Within 90 days after this Article becomes effective, the Department shall publish in English and in each language that is the primary language of at least two percent (2%) of the State's population and shall cause to be available on the State Web site established under G.S. 90-21.84, the following printed materials in a manner that ensures that the information is comprehensible to a person of ordinary intelligence:

(1)        Geographically indexed materials designed to inform a woman of public and private agencies and services available to assist her through pregnancy, upon childbirth, and while the child is dependent, including adoption agencies. The information shall include a comprehensive list of the agencies available, a description of the services they offer, including which agencies offer, at no cost to the woman, imaging that enables the woman to view the unborn child or heart tone monitoring that enables the woman to listen to the heartbeat of the unborn child, and a description of the manner, including telephone numbers, in which they might be contacted. In the alternative, in the discretion of the Department, the printed materials may contain a toll-free, 24-hour-a-day telephone number that may be called to obtain, orally or by tape recorded message tailored to the zip code entered by the caller, a list of these agencies in the locality of the caller and of the services they offer.

(2)        Materials designed to inform the woman of the probable anatomical and physiological characteristics of the unborn child at two-week gestational increments from the time a woman can be known to be pregnant until full term, including pictures or drawings representing the development of the unborn child at two-week gestational increments. The pictures shall contain the dimensions of the unborn child, information about brain and heart functions, the presence of external members and internal organs, and be realistic and appropriate for the stage of pregnancy depicted. The materials shall be objective, nonjudgmental, and designed to convey only accurate scientific information about the unborn child at the various gestational ages. The material shall contain objective information describing the methods of abortion procedures employed, the medical risks associated with each procedure, the possible adverse psychological effects of abortion, as well as the medical risks associated with carrying an unborn child to term.

Additionally, the Department shall cause to be available on the State Web site a list of resources the woman may contact for assistance upon receiving information from the physician performing the ultrasound that the unborn child may have a disability or serious abnormality."

SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective October 1, 2013.