H-4296

AN ACT Relating to protecting the lives and health of women, children, and families; adding a new chapter to Title 70 RCW; creating new sections; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, morals, or safety, or the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect immediately.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. This chapter shall be known and cited as the consent and responsibility enactment (CARE).

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The people find that the following are in the best interests of the women, children, and families of the state of Washington:

(1) The state has a compelling interest in protecting the life and health of all its citizens;

(2) Individuals have a fundamental right to ensure that the choices they make for themselves or their children are fully informed, and that they have information essential to protecting their health or the health of their children;

(3) Parents have a fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their minor children, and to ensure that the family structure is fostered and preserved as an essential social unit; and

(4) Both individual physicians and the medical profession have a fundamental responsibility to perpetuate and protect the lives and health of their patients and to do them no harm.

This chapter is intended to protect the lives and health of the women, children, and families by ensuring consent of the patient, the patient's parent or parents if the patient is a minor child, or the patient's legal guardian, and to establish responsibilities for the physician and medical profession.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. An abortion may not be performed upon an unemancipated minor unless she first has obtained the signed consent of her parents, or that of her legal guardian.

If neither of the parents nor the legal guardian is available within a reasonable time or manner, or cannot be located after a reasonable effort has been made to locate the parents or guardian, or the parties from whom consent must be obtained refuse to consent to the performance of an abortion, then the unemancipated minor may petition the superior court of the county in which she resides for a waiver of the consent requirement of this section.

A notice shall be given to the minor, the parents, and the guardian of the date, time, and place of the hearing on the petition, and the minor, the parents, and the guardian shall be allowed to testify. Court proceedings under this section shall be confidential and shall be given such precedence over other pending matters as is necessary to ensure that the court may reach a decision promptly, but in no case may the court fail to rule within seven court days from the time of application.

A court that conducts proceedings under this section shall issue written and specific findings of fact and conclusions of law supporting its decision and shall order that a confidential record of the evidence be maintained.

An expedited confidential appeal shall be available to the minor, the parents and the guardian, but in no case may the court of appeals fail to rule within seven court days from the time that notice of appeal has been filed.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. A physician shall not perform an abortion unless, before such performance, the physician and the patient or the patient's parent or parents if the patient is an unemancipated minor child or the patient's legal guardian, certify in writing that: The patient was provided the language of this section in a manner that was not biased or misleading and that was understood by the patient; and that she is voluntarily giving her informed consent after receiving the information described in subsections (1) through (7) of this section; or that she is voluntarily waiving her right to receive any or some of the information described in subsections (1) through (7) of this section.

Information that a patient has a right to receive includes the following:

(1) That according to the best medical judgment of the physician the patient is or is not pregnant, and the approximate age of the unborn child considering the number of weeks elapsed from the probable time of the conception of the unborn child, based upon the information provided by the client as to the time of her last menstrual period, her medical history, a physical examination, or appropriate laboratory tests;

(2) The general anatomical and physiological characteristics of the unborn child or of an unborn child at the stage of development approximately equal to that of the patient's, including distinct photographs of the actual unborn child or of an actual unborn child at a stage of development approximately equal to that of the patient's;

(3) The particular risks to the patient associated with pregnancy and childbirth;

(4) The particular immediate and long‑term physical, emotional, and psychological dangers to the patient associated with the abortion;

(5) A description of the abortion technique or procedure to be used and its consequences, and the particular risks to the patient associated with the abortion technique or procedure to be used;

(6) Alternatives to abortion such as childbirth and adoption and information concerning public and private agencies that will assist in those alternatives; and

(7) In addition, the physician shall answer any questions or concerns of the patient, including those regarding her health, the unborn child, or the abortion technique or procedure, or may inform her of any other material facts or opinions, or may provide any explanation of the above information that, in the best medical judgment of the physician, is reasonably necessary to allow the patient to give her voluntary informed consent to the proposed abortion with full knowledge of its nature and consequences.

An abortion may not be performed until after twenty-four hours from the time the information has been received or waived and the certification in writing has been completed.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. (1) Only a person licensed under chapter 18.57 or 18.71 RCW may perform or attempt to perform an abortion.

(2) An abortion may be performed only in a hospital accredited by the joint commission on accreditation of hospitals, or at a medical facility approved for that purpose by the state board of health, which facility meets standards prescribed by regulations issued for an ambulatory surgical center for the safe and adequate care and treatment of patients.

(3) To develop statistical data relating to the protection of the lives and health of children and women, a report shall be certified and filed with the department of health by the physician who performed the abortion no later than ten days following the day on which the abortion was performed. The report shall indicate the type of abortion performed, the facility where the abortion occurred, the age of the patient and the unborn child, the reason for the abortion, if consent was obtained in accordance with the requirements of sections 4 and 5 of this act or, if not so obtained, shall indicate if a waiver was obtained or the medical indications on which the physician's judgment was based that a medical emergency existed. The report shall be transmitted to the department no later than ten days following the end of the month in which the abortion is performed. The report forms shall not identify a patient by name but by an individual number to be noted in the patient's permanent record in the possession of the physician.

The department shall report annually to the legislature all statistical data gathered under this chapter and shall report any recommendations that it has to further the purposes of this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. The requirements of sections 4, 5, and 6(2) of this act do not apply if the physician determines that a medical emergency exists that so complicates the pregnancy as to require an immediate abortion to preserve the life of the patient or unborn child.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the chapter or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. The provisions of this act are to be liberally construed to effectuate the policies and purposes of this chapter. In the event of conflict between this chapter and any other provision of law, the provisions of this chapter shall govern.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. Sections 2 through 7 of this act shall constitute a new chapter in Title 70 RCW.