The Senate Judiciary Committee heard Sen. Houchin’s SB 404 on abortion, child abuse, and sexual trafficking. This bill provides:
- Certain information must be provided by the parent or legal guardian of an unemancipated pregnant woman when giving written consent for the unemancipated pregnant woman to have an abortion.
- A parent or legal guardian of a pregnant minor is an interested party with respect to a petition to waive the parental consent requirement and shall be served notice of any hearing on the petition.
- The court may not rule on the petition unless proof of service of the notice to a parent or legal guardian isfiled with the court.
- The parent or legal guardian is entitled to an opportunity to submit evidence to the court.
- A court may waive the requirement of parental consent if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the minor is mature enough to make the abortion decision independently or that an abortion would be in the minor’s best interests. (Current law does not specify a standard of proof.)
- A physician who receives written consent for an unemancipated pregnant woman to have an abortion is required to execute an affidavit for inclusion in the unemancipated pregnant woman’s medical record.
- A prohibition against a person from aiding or assisting an unemancipated pregnant woman in obtaining an abortion without the consent of the minor’s parent or guardian.
- Authorization of an award of civil damages for a violation.
- Authorization for certain persons to seek an injunction from acts that would aid or assist an unemancipated pregnant woman in obtaining an abortion without parental consent.
- A health care provider shall transmit the pregnancy termination form to the State Department of Health and separately to the Department of Child Services if the woman having the abortion is less than 16 years of age (rather than if the woman is less than 14 years of age as provided by current law).
- Requirement that the State Department of Health notify and provide a copy of the form to the Department of Child Services when it has received a form notifying the State Department of Health that a female less than 16 years of age has had an abortion.
- The penalty for the failure to file certain forms regarding performed abortions is raised from a Class B misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor.
- It is a Class A misdemeanor for a physician to perform an abortion on a female who is less than 16 years of age and recklessly fail to transmit the pregnancy termination form to the State Department of Health.
- A health care practitioner is subject to disciplinary sanctions for failure to report suspected child abuse or sexual trafficking.
- The medical licensing board is required to revoke a physician’s license if the physician negligently fails to transmit a form regarding an abortion performed on a female who is less than 16 years of age and performs an abortion in violation of state law.
The bill was amended to require the abortion doctor to notify the State Department of Health when anyone under the age of16 gets an abortion and raises the age to get consent for abortion from under 14 years old to under 16 years old. The amendment does not allow an emancipated minor to get an abortion without telling parents, even consent waiver would require notification. Several individuals and representatives from the Indiana Right to Life, Indiana Catholic Conference, and Indiana Family Institute testified in favor of the bill. A few family law attorneys, several individuals, and representatives from the ACLU of Indiana and Physicians for Reproductive Health testified against the bill. The amended bill passed 6-4.
Read the bill at: http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2017/bills/senate/404