Senate Amendment 12A
S 474 - Session 125 (2023-2024)
Abortion - Fetal Heartbeat

Senators Campsen, Grooms, and Massey propose the following amendment (SFGF-474.BC0036S):

Amend the bill, as and if amended, SECTION 1, by striking Section 44-41-610(8) and inserting:

(8) "Medical emergency" means a condition that, by anyin reasonable medical judgment, a condition exists that has complicated the pregnant woman's medical condition and necessitates an abortion to prevent death or a so complicates the medical condition of a pregnant woman that it necessitates the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death without first determining whether there is a detectable fetal heartbeat or for which the delay necessary to determine whether there is a detectable fetal heartbeat will create serious risk of a substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, not including psychological or emotional conditions. A condition must not be considered a medical emergency if based on a claim or diagnosis that a woman will engage in conduct that she intends to result in her death or in a substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 1, by striking Section 44-41-620(A) and inserting:

(A) A court judgment or order suspending enforcement of any provision of this chapter is not to be regarded as tantamount to repeal of that provision.Nothing in this article prohibits the sale, use, prescription, or administration of a contraceptive.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 1, by striking Section 44-41-650(C) and (D) and inserting:

(C) For at least seven years from the date the notations are made in the woman's medical records, the owner of the pregnant woman's medical records shall maintain a copy of the notations.

(D) A person, if he is the owner of the pregnant woman's medical records, who violates subsection (B) or (C) is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be fined up to ten thousand dollars, imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.

(E) An entity with ownership of the pregnant woman's medical records that violates subsection (C) must be fined up to fifty thousand dollars.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 1, by striking Section 44-41-660(B)(3) and inserting:

(3) the medical rationale to support the physician's conclusion that the pregnant woman's medical condition necessitated the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert her deatha medical emergency necessitating the abortion existed.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 1, by striking Section 44-41-660(C) and (D) and inserting:

(C) For at least seven years from the date the notations are made in the pregnant woman's medical records, the physicianowner of the pregnant woman's medical records shall maintain a copy of the notations in his own records a copy of the notations.

(D) A person, if the is the owner of the pregnant woman's medical records, who violates subsection (B) or (C) is guilty of a felony and must be fined up to ten thousand dollars, imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.

(E) An entity with ownership of the pregnant woman's medical records that violates subsection (C) must be fined up to fifty thousand dollars.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 1, by striking Section 44-41-690(A) and inserting:

(A) Section 44-41-68044-41-640 does not apply to a physician who performs a medical procedure that, by anyin reasonable medical judgment, is designed or intended to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or to prevent the serious risk of a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 1, by striking Section 44-41-690(C) and (D) and inserting:

(C) A physician who performs a medical procedure as described in subsection (A) shall place the written document required by subsection (B) in the pregnant woman's medical records. For at least seven years from the date the document is created, the physicianowner of the pregnant woman's medical records shall maintain a copy of the document in his own records.

(D) A person, if he is the owner of the pregnant woman's medical records, who violates subsection (B) or (C) is guilty of a felony and must be fined up to ten thousand dollars, imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.

(E) An entity with ownership of the pregnant woman's medical records that violates subsection (C) must be fined up to fifty thousand dollars.

Amend the bill further, by adding appropriately numbered SECTIONS to read:

SECTION X.A. Chapter 41, Title 44 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

Section 44-41-695.(A) Any abortion performed in this State must be reported by the licensed facility on the standard form for reporting abortions to the state registrar, Department of Health and Environmental Control, within seven days after the abortion is performed. The names of the patient and physician may not be reported on the form or otherwise disclosed to the state registrar. The form must indicate from whom consent was obtained, or circumstances waiving consent, and must include:

(1) Gestational age;

(2) Method of abortion, of which the following was employed:

(a) medication abortion such as, but not limited to, mifepristone/misoprostol or methotrexate/misoprostol;

(b) manual vacuum aspiration;

(c) electrical vacuum aspiration;

(d) dilation and evacuation;

(e) combined induction abortion and dilation and evacuation;

(f) induction abortion with prostaglandins;

(g) induction abortion with intra-amniotic instillation such as, but not limited to, saline or urea;

(h) induction abortion; and

(i) intact dilation and extraction (partial-birth);

(3) Whether an intrafetal injection was used in an attempt to induce fetal demise such as, but not limited to, intrafetal potassium chloride or digoxin;

(4) Age of the patient; and

(5) If an exception under this article applies, the applicable exception.

(B) Reports required by this section shall not contain the name or the address of the patient whose pregnancy was terminated, nor shall the report contain any other information identifying the patient, except that each report shall contain a unique medical record identifying number, to enable matching the report to the patient's medical records. Such reports must be maintained in strict confidence by the department, must not be available for public inspection, and must not be made available except:

(1) to the Attorney General or solicitor with appropriate jurisdiction pursuant to a criminal investigation; or

(2) pursuant to court order in an action under 44-41-690.

(C) By June thirtieth of each year, the department shall issue a public report providing statistics for the previous calendar year compiled from all of the reports covering that year submitted in accordance with this section for each of the items listed in subsection (A). Each such report also shall provide the statistics for all previous calendar years during which this section was in effect, adjusted to reflect any additional information from late or corrected reports. The department shall take care to ensure that none of the information included in the public reports could reasonably lead to the identification of any pregnant woman upon whom an abortion was performed, induced, or attempted.

(D) Any facility that fails to submit a report by the end of thirty days following the due date must be subject to a late fee of one thousand dollars for each additional thirty-day period or portion of a thirty-day period the report is overdue. Any facility required to report in accordance with this article that has not submitted a report, or has submitted only an incomplete report, more than six months following the due date, may, in an action brought by the department, be directed by a court of competent jurisdiction to submit a complete report within a period stated by court order or be subject to civil contempt. Intentional or reckless falsification of any report required under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by not more than one year in prison.

B.The department must update the standard form for reporting abortions in accordance with Section 44-41-695, as added in this act, within ninety days of the effective date of this act. Until the standard form is updated, the standard form in use immediately preceding the effective date of this act must continue to be used.

SECTION X. Section 44-41-10 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

Section 44-41-10.As used in this chapter:

(a) "Abortion" means the use of an instrument, medicine, drug, or other substance or device with intent to terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant for reasons other than to increase the probability of a live birth, to preserve the life or health of the child after live birth, or to remove a dead fetus.

(b) "Physician" means aany person licensed to practice medicine and surgery, or osteopathic medicine and surgery, in this State.

(c) "Department" means the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

(d) "Hospital" means those institutions licensed for hospital operation by the department in accordance with Article 3, Chapter 7 of this title and which have also been certified by the department to be suitable facilities for the performance of abortions.

(e) "Clinic" shall mean any facility other than a hospital as defined in subsection (d) which has been licensed by the Department, and which has also been certified by the Department to be suitable for the performance of abortions.

(f) "PregnancyPregnant" means the condition of a woman after conception until the termination of gestation. Pregnancy begins when a fertilized ovum implants in a woman's uterine wall carrying a fetus or embryo within her body as the result of conception.

(g) "Conception" means the fecundation of thefertilization of an ovum by the spermatozoasperm.

(h) "Consent" means a signed and witnessed voluntary agreement to the performance of an abortion.

(i) "First trimester of pregnancy" means the first twelve weeks of pregnancy commencing with conception rather than computed on the basis of the menstrual cycle.

(j) "Second trimester of pregnancy" means that portion of a pregnancy following the twelfth week and extending through the twenty-fourth week of gestation.

(k) "Third trimester of pregnancy" means that portion of a pregnancy beginning with the twenty-fifth week of gestation.

(l) "Viability" means that stage of human development when the fetus is potentially able to live outside of the mother's womb with or without the aid of artificial life support systems. For the purposes of this chapter, a legal presumption is hereby created that viability occurs no sooner than the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy.

(m) "Minor" means a female under the age of seventeen.

(n)(m) "Emancipated minor" means a minor who is or has been married or has by court order been freed from the care, custody, and control of her parents.

(o)(n) "In loco parentis" means any person over the age of eighteen who has placed himself or herself in the position of a lawful parent by assuming obligations which are incidental to the parental relationship and has so served for a period of sixty days.

SECTION X. Section 44-41-70(b) of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

(b) The department shall promulgate and enforce regulations for the licensing and certification of facilities other than hospitals as defined in Section 44-41-10(d) wherein abortions are to be performed as provided for in Section 44-41-20(a) and (b).

Amend the bill further, by striking SECTION 6 and inserting:

SECTION 6.From Article 1, Chapter 41, Title 44, related to Abortions Generally, Section 44-41-20 and Section 44-41-60 are repealed.