101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
HB1620

 

Introduced , by Rep. Allen Skillicorn

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
720 ILCS 510/6  from Ch. 38, par. 81-26

    Amends the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975. Provides that subsequent to the abortion, if a child is born alive, the physician required to be in attendance shall exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as would be required of a physician providing immediate medical care to a child born alive at the same gestational age (rather than in the course of a pregnancy termination which was not an abortion).


LRB101 07142 SLF 52180 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB1620LRB101 07142 SLF 52180 b

1    AN ACT concerning criminal law.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Illinois Abortion Law of 1975 is amended by
5changing Section 6 as follows:
 
6    (720 ILCS 510/6)  (from Ch. 38, par. 81-26)
7    Sec. 6. (1) (a) Any physician who intentionally performs an
8abortion when, in his medical judgment based on the particular
9facts of the case before him, there is a reasonable likelihood
10of sustained survival of the fetus outside the womb, with or
11without artificial support, shall utilize that method of
12abortion which, of those he knows to be available, is in his
13medical judgment most likely to preserve the life and health of
14the fetus.
15    (b) The physician shall certify in writing, on a form
16prescribed by the Department under Section 10 of this Act, the
17available methods considered and the reasons for choosing the
18method employed.
19    (c) Any physician who intentionally, knowingly, or
20recklessly violates the provisions of Section 6(1)(a) commits a
21Class 3 felony.
22    (2) (a) No abortion shall be performed or induced when the
23fetus is viable unless there is in attendance a physician other

 

 

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1than the physician performing or inducing the abortion who
2shall take control of and provide immediate medical care for
3any child born alive as a result of the abortion. This
4requirement shall not apply when, in the medical judgment of
5the physician performing or inducing the abortion based on the
6particular facts of the case before him, there exists a medical
7emergency; in such a case, the physician shall describe the
8basis of this judgment on the form prescribed by Section 10 of
9this Act. Any physician who intentionally performs or induces
10such an abortion and who intentionally, knowingly, or
11recklessly fails to arrange for the attendance of such a second
12physician in violation of Section 6(2)(a) commits a Class 3
13felony.
14    (b) Subsequent to the abortion, if a child is born alive,
15the physician required by Section 6(2)(a) to be in attendance
16shall exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and
17diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as would
18be required of a physician providing immediate medical care to
19a child born alive at the same gestational age in the course of
20a pregnancy termination which was not an abortion. Any such
21physician who intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly violates
22Section 6(2)(b) commits a Class 3 felony.
23    (3) The law of this State shall not be construed to imply
24that any living individual organism of the species homo sapiens
25who has been born alive is not an individual under the
26"Criminal Code of 1961," approved July 28, 1961, as amended.

 

 

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1    (4) (a) Any physician who intentionally performs an
2abortion when, in his medical judgment based on the particular
3facts of the case before him, there is a reasonable possibility
4of sustained survival of the fetus outside the womb, with or
5without artificial support, shall utilize that method of
6abortion which, of those he knows to be available, is in his
7medical judgment most likely to preserve the life and health of
8the fetus.
9    (b) The physician shall certify in writing, on a form
10prescribed by the Department under Section 10 of this Act, the
11available methods considered and the reasons for choosing the
12method employed.
13    (c) Any physician who intentionally, knowingly, or
14recklessly violates the provisions of Section 6(4)(a) commits a
15Class 3 felony.
16    (5) Nothing in Section 6 requires a physician to employ a
17method of abortion which, in the medical judgment of the
18physician performing the abortion based on the particular facts
19of the case before him, would increase medical risk to the
20mother.
21    (6) When the fetus is viable and when there exists
22reasonable medical certainty (a) that the particular method of
23abortion to be employed will cause organic pain to the fetus,
24and (b) that use of an anesthetic or analgesic would abolish or
25alleviate organic pain to the fetus caused by the particular
26method of abortion to be employed, then the physician who is to

 

 

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1perform the abortion or his agent or the referring physician or
2his agent shall inform the woman upon whom the abortion is to
3be performed that such an anesthetic or analgesic is available,
4if he knows it to be available, for use to abolish or alleviate
5organic pain caused to the fetus by the particular method of
6abortion to be employed. Any person who performs an abortion
7with knowledge that any such reasonable medical certainty
8exists and that such an anesthetic or analgesic is available,
9and intentionally fails to so inform the woman or to ascertain
10that the woman has been so informed commits a Class B
11misdemeanor. The foregoing requirements of subsection (6) of
12Section 6 shall not apply (a) when in the medical judgment of
13the physician who is to perform the abortion or the referring
14physician based upon the particular facts of the case before
15him: (i) there exists a medical emergency, or (ii) the
16administration of such an anesthetic or analgesic would
17decrease a possibility of sustained survival of the fetus apart
18from the body of the mother, with or without artificial
19support, or (b) when the physician who is to perform the
20abortion administers an anesthetic or an analgesic to the woman
21or the fetus and he knows there exists reasonable medical
22certainty that such use will abolish organic pain caused to the
23fetus during the course of the abortion.
24    (7) No person shall sell or experiment upon a fetus
25produced by the fertilization of a human ovum by a human sperm
26unless such experimentation is therapeutic to the fetus thereby

 

 

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1produced. Intentional violation of this section is a Class A
2misdemeanor. Nothing in this subsection (7) is intended to
3prohibit the performance of in vitro fertilization.
4    (8) No person shall intentionally perform an abortion with
5knowledge that the pregnant woman is seeking the abortion
6solely on account of the sex of the fetus. Nothing in Section
76(8) shall be construed to proscribe the performance of an
8abortion on account of the sex of the fetus because of a
9genetic disorder linked to that sex. If the application of
10Section 6(8) to the period of pregnancy prior to viability is
11held invalid, then such invalidity shall not affect its
12application to the period of pregnancy subsequent to viability.
13(Source: P.A. 84-1001.)