Brief⁽¹⁾

The bill would amend existing law regarding parental involvement when a minor seeks an abortion and amend a child abuse statute to add judges, licensed master's level psychologists, and licensed professional counselors to the list of persons required to report child abuse or neglect. Judges who suspect or determine that a pregnant minor utilizing the judicial by-pass procedure prior to an abortion has been sexually abused would be required to report those suspicions or determinations to SRS.

Existing law regarding abortions would be amended as follows:

• The written consent of one parent or guardian, or a court-ordered waiver of the consent requirement, would be necessary prior to performance of an abortion on an unemancipated pregnant minor. Under current law, a pregnant minor's parent or guardian must receive from the doctor written notice of intent to perform an abortion, unless the judicial by-pass procedure is used.



• The only grounds for an emergency abortion without parental consent would be a threat to the pregnant minor's life. Under existing law, an abortion can be performed without parental notification if the abortion is necessitated by an emergency that threatens the woman's health, safety, or well being.



• Parental consent would not be required if the minor's parent was responsible for the pregnancy or the doctor determines an emergency exists that threatens the life of the minor as to require an abortion.



• The judicial by-pass could be sought by any pregnant minor who objects to obtaining parental consent or if consent has been denied by the parent. The judicial by-pass procedure in existing law would not be changed.



• The list of information that must be included in reports of abortions under current law would be amended to include the number of abortions performed under the auspices of a court order issued as a result of the judicial by-pass procedure and the number of abortions performed with parental consent.



• The definitions of "counselor" and "qualified person" would both be amended to include master's level psychologists and to correct the titles of counselors and marriage and family therapists. Those definitions are used in the provisions of the abortion law regarding counseling of a minor prior to abortion and the Women's Right to Know Act.



• A definition of "parent" would be included in the abortion law. A parent would be the parent of the pregnant female minor or the guardian of such minor.



• The definition of "viable" would be amended to make applicable to the entire act the definition enacted in 1998 and currently applicable to only the post-viability abortion provisions. That definition would include as viable for purposes of the abortion laws any fetuses that have a reasonable probability of living outside the mother's womb with natural or artificial life support. Under current law viable fetuses are only those capable of survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical means.

Background

The original bill was supported during a hearing before the House Committee on Federal and State Affairs by Representative Hutchins and a representative of Kansans For Life. Opponents of the bill included the Kansas Choice Alliance, the Greater Kansas City Section of the National Council of Jewish Women, the League of Women Voters, Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, Right to Life of Kansas, and Kansas members of the National Organization of Women. Written testimony in opposition to the bill was submitted by a social worker from Hays.

The House Committee amended the bill by introducing a substitute bill that would insert the parental consent requirement in the existing statutory framework for parental notification.

The House Committee of the Whole amended the bill to:

• include certain mental health professionals in the list of persons required to report child abuse or neglect;



• amend the definitions of counselor and qualified person;



• add reports of abortions performed with parental consent;



• delete the requirement that the physician assume certain costs when abortions are performed under auspices of a court order; and



• delete the definition of fetus.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html