HB 2177

Abstract

Creates the Infant Born Alive Protection Act. Provides that any physician who intentionally performs an abortion when there is a reasonable likelihood or possibility of sustained survival of the fetus outside the womb shall utilize the method most likely to preserve the life and health of the fetus, and that failure to do so is a Class 3 felony. Prohibits the performance or inducement of an abortion when the fetus is viable unless there is in attendance a physician other than the physician performing or inducing the abortion who shall take control of and provide immediate medical care for any child born alive as a result of the abortion. Provides that any living individual organism of the species homo sapiens who has been born alive is legally an individual under the Criminal Code of 2012. Provides that a Class 3 felony is committed when a physician under specified circumstances intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly fails to exercise the same conduct to preserve the life and health of a child as would be required for a child born alive at the same gestational age. Provides that nothing in the Act requires a physician to employ a method of abortion which, in the medical judgment of the physician, would increase medical risk to the mother. Except in specified circumstances, requires specified persons to inform a woman upon whom an abortion is to be performed when an anesthetic or analgesic is available for use to abolish or alleviate organic pain caused to the fetus by the particular method of abortion to be employed and provides that failure to do so is a Class B misdemeanor.