101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
HB5296

 

Introduced , by Rep. Patrick Windhorst

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
New Act

    Creates the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2020. Provides that any person who knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus or infant is guilty of a Class 4 felony. Provides that a person shall only perform or induce a partial-birth abortion on a viable fetus if: (i) the person is a physician; (ii) the person has a documented referral from another physician not legally or financially affiliated with the person performing or inducing the abortion; (iii) both physicians determine that the life of the mother is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself; and (iv) there is no other medical procedure that would suffice for that purpose. Provides that the maternal grandparents of the fetus or infant, if the mother has not attained the age of 18 years at the time of the abortion, may obtain appropriate relief unless the pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff's criminal conduct or the plaintiff consented to the abortion. Provides that a woman on whom a partial-birth abortion is performed may not be prosecuted under the Act, for a conspiracy to violate the Act, or for an offense under Article 31 of the Criminal Code of 2012, nor may she be held accountable under Article 5 of the Criminal Code of 2012. Effective immediately.


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A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning civil law.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2020.
 
6    Section 5. Findings; purposes.
7    (a) The General Assembly finds that:
8        (1) Partial-birth abortion is a gruesome and inhumane
9    procedure that is never medically necessary and, as such,
10    should be prohibited.
11        (2) In 2003, the 108th United States Congress passed
12    the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 (18 U.S.C.
13    1531), and President George W. Bush signed it into law.
14        (3) Later, on April 18, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court
15    upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 ("the
16    federal ban") in Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 (2007),
17    specifically ruling that a ban on partial-birth abortion
18    need not include a maternal "health" exception to be
19    constitutional.
20        (4) This Act's language stems from and uses as its
21    primary influence the language of the federal ban as upheld
22    in Gonzales v. Carhart.
23        (5) This Act – a state ban on partial-birth abortion –

 

 

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1    is needed to supplement the federal ban. Importantly, the
2    federal ban was narrowly tailored to reach only those
3    partial-birth abortion procedures that implicate Congress'
4    power to regulate interstate or foreign commerce. U.S.
5    CONST. art. 1, 8, cl. 3. Without this Act, partial-birth
6    abortions performed, but not affecting these categories of
7    commerce, are not prohibited under the federal ban.
8        (6) A partial-birth abortion poses serious risk to a
9    woman's long-term health.
10        (7) There is a substantial evidentiary record upon
11    which the General Assembly has based its conclusion that a
12    maternal "health" exception is not constitutionality
13    required in a State ban on partial-birth abortion.
14        (8) Moreover, the medical evidence clearly supports
15    the informed judgment of this State that a partial-birth
16    abortion is never medically necessary to preserve a woman's
17    health and instead poses serious health risks to the woman.
18        (9) Specifically, partial-birth abortion poses serious
19    risks, including, but not limited to: an increased risk of
20    cervical incompetence, as a result of cervical dilation,
21    that makes it difficult or impossible for a woman to
22    successfully carry a subsequent pregnancy to term; an
23    increased risk of uterine rupture, abruption, amniotic
24    fluid embolus, and trauma to the uterus, as a result of
25    converting the child to a footling breech position – a
26    procedure which, according to a leading obstetrics

 

 

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1    textbook, "there are very few, if any, indications for
2    other than for delivery of a second twin"; and a risk of
3    lacerations and secondary hemorrhaging, as a result of the
4    physician blindly forcing a sharp instrument into the base
5    of the unborn child's skull while he or she is lodged in
6    the birth canal – an act that could result in severe
7    bleeding and subsequent shock.
8        (10) There is no credible medical evidence that
9    partial-birth abortions are safer than other abortion
10    procedures. No controlled studies of partial-birth
11    abortion have been conducted nor have any comparative
12    studies been conducted to demonstrate its safety and
13    efficacy compared to other abortion methods. Furthermore,
14    there have been no articles published in peer-reviewed
15    journals that establish that partial-birth abortions are
16    superior in any way to established abortion procedures.
17        (11) In light of this overwhelming evidence, the State
18    of Illinois has a compelling interest in prohibiting
19    partial-birth abortion. Both Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113
20    (1973), and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833
21    (1992), recognized a governmental interest in protecting
22    the life of a child during the birth process. This interest
23    is specifically implicated during a partial-birth abortion
24    because labor is induced and the birth process is begun
25    before an abortion is attempted or the child is actually
26    aborted.

 

 

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1        (12) In fact, partial-birth abortion kills a child who
2    is mere inches away from birth and being considered a
3    "person" under Roe. Thus, this State clearly has a
4    heightened interest in protecting the life of the
5    partially-born child.
6        (13) The public's perception of the appropriate role of
7    a physician during a child's birth is undermined by
8    aborting a child in the manner that purposefully seeks to
9    kill the child inches from birth.
10        (14) Partial-birth abortion is disturbingly similar to
11    the killing of a newborn infant and blurs the legal and
12    moral lines between infanticide and abortion. This Act
13    reinforces that line at birth – just as the Supreme Court
14    established in Roe v. Wade – while also preserving the
15    integrity of the medical profession and promoting respect
16    for human life.
17        (15) The vast majority of infants killed during
18    partial-birth abortions are alive until the very end of the
19    procedure. Medical science has established that an unborn
20    child can feel pain when subjected to painful stimuli like
21    that inflicted during a partial-birth abortion procedure.
22    Moreover, fetal pain experts believe that an unborn child's
23    perception of pain can be even more intense than that of
24    newborn infants and older children subjected to the same
25    stimuli.
26    (b) Based on the findings in subsection (a), the purposes

 

 

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1of the General Assembly are to:
2        (1) conclusively establish that partial-birth abortion
3    is never medically indicated to preserve the health of the
4    mother and instead poses significant maternal health
5    risks;
6        (2) clearly define the line between abortion and
7    infanticide; and
8        (3) safeguard the role of a physician during
9    childbirth.
 
10    Section 10. Definitions; terms.
11    (a) As used in this Act, "partial-birth abortion" means an
12abortion in which the person performing the abortion:
13        (1) deliberately and intentionally vaginally delivers
14    a living fetus until, in the case of a head-first
15    presentation, the entire fetal head is outside the body of
16    the mother, or, in the case of breech presentation, any
17    part of the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the body
18    of the mother, for the purpose of performing an overt act
19    that the person knows will kill the partially delivered
20    living fetus; and
21        (2) performs the overt act, other than completion of
22    delivery, which kills the partially delivered living
23    fetus.
24    (b) The terms "fetus" and "infant" are used interchangeably
25to refer to the biological offspring of human parents.
 

 

 

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1    Section 15. Partial-birth abortions prohibited.
2Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, any person who
3knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a
4human fetus or infant is guilty of a Class 4 felony. A person
5shall only perform or induce a partial-birth abortion on a
6viable fetus if: (i) the person is a physician; (ii) the person
7has a documented referral from another physician not legally or
8financially affiliated with the person performing or inducing
9the abortion; (iii) both physicians determine that the life of
10the mother is endangered by a physical disorder, physical
11illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering
12condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself; and
13(iv) there is no other medical procedure that would suffice for
14that purpose.
 
15    Section 20. Civil action. The maternal grandparents of the
16fetus or infant, if the mother has not attained the age of 18
17years at the time of the abortion, may, in a civil action,
18obtain appropriate relief unless the pregnancy resulted from
19the plaintiff's criminal conduct or the plaintiff consented to
20the abortion. The relief shall include money damages for all
21injuries, psychological and physical, occasioned by the
22violation of this Act and statutory damages equal to 3 times
23the cost of the partial-birth abortion.
 

 

 

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1    Section 25. Prosecution of woman prohibited. A woman on
2whom a partial-birth abortion is performed may not be
3prosecuted under this Act, for a conspiracy to violate this
4Act, or for an offense under Article 31 of the Criminal Code of
52012 based on a violation of this Act, nor may she be held
6accountable under Article 5 of the Criminal Code of 2012 for an
7offense based on a violation of this Act.
 
8    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
9becoming law.