HB5743 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 18055 KTG 33429 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
HB5743

Introduced 2/9/2010, by Rep. Jil Tracy - Linda Chapa LaVia - Darlene J. Senger - Joseph M. Lyons - David Reis, et al.

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Ultrasound Opportunity Act. Provides that a facility that performs abortions may not perform an abortion on a woman without first offering the woman an opportunity to receive and view an active ultrasound of her unborn child at the facility or at a facility listed in a listing of local ultrasound providers provided by the facility. Sets forth requirements for the ultrasound image. Requires that the woman's response to the offer be documented. Requires the Department of Public Health to prepare an annual reporting form for facilities that perform abortions, and sets forth information that must be collected. Provides that the requirements under this Act shall not apply when, in the medical judgment of the physician performing or inducing the abortion based on the particular facts of the case before him or her, there exists a medical emergency.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning regulation.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Ultrasound Opportunity Act.

Section 5. Offer of ultrasound required.

(a) A facility that performs abortions may not perform an abortion on a woman without first offering the woman an opportunity to receive and view an active ultrasound of her unborn child at the facility or at a facility listed in a listing of local ultrasound providers provided by the facility.

(b) The active ultrasound image must be of a quality consistent with standard medical practice in the community, contain the dimensions of the fetus, and accurately portray the presence of external members and internal organs, including the heartbeat, if present or viewable, of the fetus. The auscultation of the fetal heart tone must be of a quality consistent with standard medical practice in the community.

(c) The woman's response to the offer must be documented by the facility, including the date and time of the offer and the woman's signature attesting to her informed decision to accept or decline the offer.

Section 10. Reports. The Department of Public Health shall prepare and make available a reporting form, to be submitted to the Department annually, for facilities that perform abortions. The form shall provide for the collection of the following information:

(1) The number of women who chose to view an ultrasound of their unborn children pursuant to Section 5 of this Act, and the number who did not; and of each of those numbers, the number who, to the best of the reporting facility's information and belief, went on to obtain the abortion.

(2) The name of the facility.

(3) The date of the report.

(4) A unique patient number for each woman who was offered an opportunity to view an ultrasound as required under Section 5 during the period covered by the report, which can be used to link the report to a medical record for inspection, clarification, and correction purposes but that cannot, of itself, reasonably lead to the identification of any person obtaining an abortion.

Section 15. Medical Emergency. The requirements under this Act shall not apply when, in the medical judgment of the physician performing or inducing the abortion based on the particular facts of the case before him or her, there exists a medical emergency. For purposes of this Act, "medical emergency" means a condition that, on the basis of the physician's good faith clinical judgment, so complicates the medical condition of a pregnant woman as to necessitate the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death or for which a delay will create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of major bodily function.