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Session of 2000
          Substitute For House Bill No. 2581           By Committee on Federal and State Affairs           1-27          

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10             AN  ACT concerning abortion; relating to partial birth abortion; amend-
11             ing K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 65-6721 and repealing the existing section.
12      
13       Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
14             Section  1. K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 65-6721 is hereby amended to read as
15       follows: 65-6721. (a) No person shall perform or induce a partial birth
16       abortion on a viable fetus unless such person is a physician and has a
17       documented referral from another physician not legally or financially af-
18       filiated with the physician performing or inducing the abortion and both
19       physicians determine: (1) The, in accordance with accepted practices and
20       standards applied by physicians in the same or similar circumstances,
21       that the abortion is necessary to preserve the life of the pregnant woman;
22       or (2) a continuation of the pregnancy will cause a substantial and irre-
23       versible impairment of a major physical or mental function of the preg-
24       nant woman.
25             (b) As used in this section:
26             (1) ``Partial birth abortion'' means an abortion procedure which in-
27       cludes the deliberate and intentional evacuation of all or a part of the
28       intracranial contents of a viable fetus prior to removal of such otherwise
29       intact fetus from the body of the pregnant woman.
30             (2) ``Partial birth abortion'' shall not include the: (A) Suction curet-
31       tage abortion procedure; (B) suction aspiration abortion procedure; or
32       (C) dilation and evacuation abortion procedure involving dismemberment
33       of the fetus prior to removal from the body of the pregnant woman.
34             (c) If a physician determines in accordance with the provisions of
35       subsection (a) that a partial birth abortion is necessary and performs a
36       partial birth abortion on the woman, the physician shall report such de-
37       termination and the reasons for such determination in writing to the med-
38       ical care facility in which the abortion is performed for inclusion in the
39       report of the medical care facility to the secretary of health and environ-
40       ment under K.S.A. 65-445, and amendments thereto or. If the abortion
41       is not performed in a medical care facility, the physician shall report the
42       reasons for such determination in writing to the secretary of health and
43       environment as part of the written report made by the physician to the

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  1       secretary of health and environment under K.S.A. 65-445, and amend-
  2       ments thereto. The physician shall retain a copy of the written reports
  3       required under this subsection for not less than five years.
  4             (d) A woman upon whom an a partial birth abortion is performed
  5       shall not be prosecuted under this section for a conspiracy to violate this
  6       section pursuant to K.S.A. 21-3302, and amendments thereto.
  7             (e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to create a right to an
  8       abortion. Nothing in this section shall be construed as eliminating the
  9       necessity for compliance with the woman's right-to-know act. Notwith-
10       standing any provision of this section, a person shall not perform an abor-
11       tion that is prohibited by law.
12             (f) Upon conviction of a violation of this A person convicted of inten-
13       tionally, knowingly or recklessly violating this section, a person shall be
14       guilty of a severity level 10 person felony.
15             (g)  (1) If any word, clause, phrase or other provision of subsection
16       (a), or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is found
17       unconstitutional, the same is hereby declared to be inseverable.
18             (2) If any word, clause, phrase or other provision of subsections (b)
19       through (f) of this section or the application thereof to any person or
20       circumstance is found to be unconstitutional, the same are hereby declared
21       to be severable and the other provisions of this section shall remain effec-
22       tive notwithstanding such unconstitutionality. The legislature hereby de-
23       clares that, except as specifically provided in paragraph (1) of this sub-
24       section, it would have passed this section, and each word, clause, phrase
25       or other provision irrespective of the fact that any one or more words,
26       clauses, phrases or other provisions be declared unconstitutional. 
27       Sec.  2. K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 65-6721 is hereby repealed.
28        Sec.  3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
29       publication in the Kansas register.