BILL NUMBER: SB 1487	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hollingsworth

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2006

   An act to add Section 123469 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to abortion.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1487, as introduced, Hollingsworth  Coerced abortion.
   Existing law, the Reproductive Privacy Act, makes a surgical
abortion unauthorized unless it complies with provisions of the
Medical Practice Act that makes performance of an abortion by a
person without a physician and surgeon's certificate subject to the
provisions relating to the unauthorized practice of medicine.
Violation of these provisions constitutes unprofessional conduct and
is a crime.
   This bill would prohibit a physician and surgeon from performing
an abortion unless he or she has obtained the written assurance from
the patient that she understands that she may not be coerced into
having an abortion, and that her decision to have an abortion is
voluntary. The bill would require a signed form to that effect be
placed in the patient's chart. By changing the definition of an
existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
  The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 123469 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:
   123469.  (a) No physician and surgeon shall perform an abortion
unless the physician and surgeon has obtained the written assurance
from the patient that she understands that she may not be forced into
having an abortion, and that her decision to have an abortion was
made voluntarily, without duress or intimidation.
   (b) The patient's chart shall contain a copy of a form signed by
the patient assuring that the abortion was obtained without force,
coercion, or intimidation. The form shall state in bold capital
letters:  obtained without force, coercion, or intimidation. The form
shall state in bold capital letters: the abort obtained without
force, coercion, or intimidation. The form shall state in bold
capital letters: the abortion wasndin Constitution because the only
costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will
be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction,
eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime
or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government
Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.