H-4339              _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 1979

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1988 Regular Session

By Representative Patrick

Read first time 2/3/88 and referred to Committee on Health Care.

AN ACT Relating to pain of unborn children caused by abortion; adding a new section to chapter 18.71 RCW; and declaring an emergency.

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

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 18.71 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) When the unborn child is viable, an anesthetic or analgesic shall be applied to the unborn child to  eliminate or alleviate the organic pain to the unborn child caused by the abortion.  The physician who is to perform the abortion shall inform the woman upon whom the abortion is to be performed that an anesthetic or analgesic is to be used to eliminate or alleviate the organic pain caused to the unborn child by the abortion.

          (2) The requirements of this section shall not apply when:

          (a) In the medical judgment of the physician who is to perform the abortion or the referring physician based upon the particular facts of the case:

          (i) There exists a medical emergency that so complicates the pregnancy as to require an immediate abortion without opportunity to provide an anesthetic or analgesic; or

          (ii) The anesthetic or analgesic would decrease a known possibility of sustained survival of the unborn child apart from the body of the mother, with or without artificial support; or

          (iii) The use of any anesthetic or analgesic would so substantially increase the medical risk to the pregnant woman as to be contraindicated; or

          (b) The physician who is to perform the abortion administers an anesthetic or analgesic to the woman to eliminate or alleviate pain caused to her by the particular method of abortion employed and the physician knows there exists reasonable medical certainty that the anesthetic or analgesic will eliminate organic pain caused to the fetus during the course of the abortion.

          (3) As used in this section, "viability" means that stage of fetal development when, in the medical judgment of the attending physician based on the particular facts of the case, there is a reasonable likelihood of sustained survival of the fetus outside the womb, with or without artificial support.