HOUSE BILL No. 5713

 

May 31, 2012, Introduced by Rep. Shaughnessy and referred to the Committee on Health Policy.

 

     A bill to amend 1931 PA 328, entitled

 

"The Michigan penal code,"

 

(MCL 750.1 to 750.568) by adding sections 213a and 324.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 213a. (1) A person having actual knowledge that a female

 

individual is pregnant shall not do any of the following with the

 

intent to coerce her to have an abortion against her will:

 

     (a) Commit, attempt to commit, or maliciously threaten to

 

commit any of the following violations against her or any other

 

person:

 

     (i) A violation of section 411h or section 411i.

 

     (ii) An assaultive crime. As used in this subparagraph,

 

"assaultive crime" means that term as defined in section 9a of

 

chapter X of the code of criminal procedure, 1927 PA 175, MCL

 


770.9a.

 

     (b) After being informed by a pregnant female that she does

 

not want to obtain an abortion, any of the following:

 

     (i) Discontinue, attempt to discontinue, or maliciously

 

threaten to discontinue support that the person has a legal

 

responsibility to provide or reduce that support to a level below

 

his or her legal responsibility.

 

     (ii) Withdraw, attempt to withdraw, or maliciously threaten to

 

withdraw from a contract or agreement or otherwise violate the

 

terms of that contract or agreement having previously entered into

 

a contract or other legally binding agreement to which the pregnant

 

female is a party or beneficiary.

 

     (iii) Discharge or threaten to discharge her from employment.

 

     (2) For purposes of subsection (1)(b), information that a

 

pregnant female does not want to obtain an abortion includes any

 

statement or act, including inaction, that would clearly

 

demonstrate to a reasonable person that she is unwilling to comply

 

with a request or demand to have an abortion.

 

     (3) A person who violates this section is guilty of a crime as

 

follows:

 

     (a) For a violation of subsection (1)(a), the person is guilty

 

of a crime punishable in the same manner as for the underlying

 

offense committed, attempted, or maliciously threatened.

 

     (b) Except as provided in subdivision (c), for a violation of

 

subsection (1)(b), the person is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable

 

by a fine of not more than $5,000.00.

 

     (c) If the person is the father or putative father of the

 


unborn child, the pregnant individual is less than 18 years of age

 

at the time of the violation, and the person is 18 years of age or

 

older at the time of the violation, the person is guilty of a

 

misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $10,000.00.

 

     (4) This section does not prohibit the person from being

 

charged with, convicted of, or punished for any other violation of

 

law committed while violating this section.

 

     (5) The court may order a term of imprisonment imposed for

 

violating this section to be served consecutively to any other term

 

of imprisonment imposed for a violation of law committed while

 

violating this section.

 

     (6) As used in this section:

 

     (a) "Course of conduct" means a pattern of conduct composed of

 

a series of 2 or more separate noncontinuous acts evidencing a

 

continuity of purpose.

 

     (b) "Maliciously threaten" means to make 2 or more statements

 

or to engage in a course of conduct that would cause a reasonable

 

person to believe that the individual is likely to act in

 

accordance with the statements or the course of conduct.

 

Maliciously threaten does not include constitutionally protected

 

speech or any generalized statement regarding a lawful pregnancy

 

option.

 

     (c) "Unborn child" means a live human being in utero

 

regardless of his or her gestational stage of development.

 

     Sec. 324. (1) The legislature makes the following findings:

 

     (a) There is substantial medical evidence that an unborn child

 

is capable of experiencing pain by 20 weeks after fertilization,

 


including all of the following:

 

     (i) That pain receptors (nociceptors) are present throughout

 

the body and are linked by functioning nerves to the brain's

 

thalamus and subcortical plate no later than 20 weeks post-

 

fertilization.

 

     (ii) That pain perception in adults is associated with

 

stimulation or ablation of the thalamus, rather than the cerebral

 

cortex. The level of functioning in the cerebral cortex of adults,

 

hydranencephalic children born with little or no cerebral cortex,

 

or the unborn child by 20 weeks' development is not recognized as

 

necessary to experiencing pain.

 

     (iii) That after 20 weeks' development, the unborn child reacts

 

to stimuli that would be recognized as painful if applied to

 

adults, and such stimuli applied to an unborn child are associated

 

with significant increases in stress hormones.

 

     (iv) For purposes of surgery on unborn children, fetal

 

anesthesia is routinely administered and is associated with a

 

decrease in stress hormones compared to when anesthesia is not

 

administered. Anesthesia is also required to prevent a thrashing

 

reaction by the unborn child to any invasive procedure performed

 

upon the child.

 

     (b) The policies enacted by this state have consistently been

 

oriented toward the protection and nurturing of unborn children,

 

despite the imposition of a regime of legal abortion by the United

 

States supreme court. Those policies include all of the following:

 

     (i) A continuously existing and enforceable, or partially

 

enforceable, criminal prohibition on abortion, except to preserve

 


the life of the mother, dating from 1846 to the present.

 

     (ii) A statute imposing heightened penalties for performing an

 

abortion upon an unborn child in later stages of pregnancy when the

 

mother has been able to perceive movement of the child ("a quick

 

child").

 

     (iii) A statute providing an official state certificate of

 

stillbirth to families experiencing a stillbirth at 20 or more

 

weeks of pregnancy.

 

     (iv) A statute providing for separate criminal charges applying

 

to injury or death to an unborn child resulting from a criminal

 

assault upon the mother, regardless of the stage of her pregnancy.

 

     (v) A statute allowing for a wrongful death tort against an

 

individual whose criminal or negligent actions result in the death

 

of an unborn child.

 

     (vi) Laws recognizing the inheritance rights of unborn children

 

and securing their legal representation by a guardian ad litem

 

prior to their birth.

 

     (vii) A statute prohibiting lawsuits asserting the "wrongful

 

birth" of a child with disabilities on the basis that the child's

 

parents were denied an opportunity to abort the child due to a

 

failure to diagnose the disabilities before birth.

 

     (c) In addition to numerous criminal statutes prohibiting

 

assaultive actions that result in pain, injury, or death, Michigan

 

policies specifically prohibit actions that involve the purposeful

 

infliction of pain, including all of the following:

 

     (i) A prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment of

 

convicted criminals.

 


     (ii) A specific statutory prohibition against torture.

 

     (iii) A statutory prohibition against cruelty to animals and

 

animal fights and a statutory prescription for humane methods of

 

livestock slaughter for food production.

 

     (d) In light of the current state of scientific and medical

 

knowledge, and in consideration of this state's multitude of

 

policies that protect unborn children and prohibit pain-inflicting

 

activities, this state asserts a compelling state interest in

 

protecting the lives of unborn children capable of experiencing

 

pain in the same manner as a newborn child or an adult. This

 

compelling state interest is independent and separate from the

 

state's interest in protecting the lives or other individual

 

interests of unborn children at any other stage of pregnancy.

 

     (2) As used in this section:

 

     (a) "Abortion" means that term as defined in section 17015 of

 

the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.17015.

 

     (b) "Fertilization" means the fusion of a human spermatozoon

 

with a human ovum.

 

     (c) "Medical emergency" means a condition that, on the basis

 

of a physician's good faith clinical judgment, so complicates the

 

medical condition of a pregnant individual as to necessitate the

 

immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death or

 

necessitates immediate treatment of a physical disorder, physical

 

illness, or physical injury in a hospital or other emergency care

 

facility, not including psychological or emotional conditions. A

 

medical emergency does not include a condition that is based on a

 

claim or diagnosis that the pregnant individual will engage in

 


conduct that she intends to result in her death.

 

     (d) "Probable postfertilization age" means the expected

 

postfertilization age of the unborn child at the time an abortion

 

is planned to be performed as determined by the good faith clinical

 

judgment of the attending physician.

 

     (e) "Unborn child" means an individual organism of the species

 

homo sapiens from fertilization until live birth.

 

     (3) Prior to performing an abortion, a physician shall make a

 

determination of the probable postfertilization age of the unborn

 

child consistent with the accepted standard of care for making that

 

determination, except in the case of a medical emergency.

 

     (4) A person shall not perform or attempt to perform an

 

abortion upon a pregnant individual if it is determined that the

 

unborn child has a probable postfertilization age of 20 or more

 

weeks, unless in the reasonable clinical judgment of a physician

 

the abortion is necessary to avert the pregnant individual's death.

 

     (5) A person who violates this section is guilty of a felony

 

punishable by imprisonment for not more than 15 years or a fine of

 

not more than $7,500.00, or both.

 

     (6) This section does not apply to actions taken by a pregnant

 

individual.

 

     (7) This section does not create a right to abortion.

 

     (8) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a

 

person shall not perform an abortion that is prohibited by law.

 

     (9) This act shall not be construed to repeal by implication

 

or otherwise, or impair any future enforcement of, section 14, 15,

 

322, or 323, or any other provision of law regulating or

 


restricting abortion.

 

     (10) This section shall be known and may be cited as the

 

"pain-capable unborn child protection act".

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect January

 

1, 2013.