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A05161 Summary:

BILL NOA05161
 
SAME ASNo Same As
 
SPONSORDeStefano
 
COSPNSRBrown E
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Amd §2599-bb, Pub Health L
 
Provides pregnant persons with alternative birth choices to preserve the life of a fetus when electing to have an abortion by health care practitioners offering sedated birth and perinatal hospice procedures.
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A05161 Actions:

BILL NOA05161
 
02/12/2025referred to health
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A05161 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A5161
 
SPONSOR: DeStefano
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public health law, in relation to providing pregnant persons with alternative birth choices to preserve the life of a fetus when electing to have an abortion   PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: The purpose of this legislation is to allow women to seek alternative methods in regards to abortion by allowing for a sedated birth procedure starting at twenty-four weeks of pregnancy.   SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1. Defines the terms Sedated birth and Perinatal hospice. It also outlines the conditions of a sedated birth, the duties of health- care practitioners caring for patients considering abortion,. and what happens to the fetus after the procedure. Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.   JUSTIFICATION: In 1970, New York State recognized that a woman has the fundamental right to make medical decisions about the course of a pregnancy. Unfor- tunately, persons seeking to make these medical decisions regarding pregnancy are acutely unaware of certain options available to them. In supporting a woman's right to choose, one must be aware of the options that are available to choose from. Not only is this common sense, but it is also a medical practice standard to require informed consent from the patient when offering medical procedures. Part of informed consent is informing the patient of alternative treatment options. This is not happening in the case of patients deciding the outcome of their pregnan- cy. Patients are being denied informed consent and thereby denied comprehensive reproductive health care. The goal of medical regulation should be to improve the quality and access to health care services. Since, the passing of The Reproductive Health Act January 2019, more women are able to choose abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy. The Reproductive Health Act also established that "every individual who becomes pregnant has the fundamental right to choose to carry the preg- nancy to term, to give birth to a child, or to have an abortion." , Women's rights are being violated when they are advised to have an abortion due to a fatal, terminal or otherwise abnormal fetal diagnosis without being told other alternatives exist. Individuals have the right to carry the pregnancy to term and they have a right to access perinatal hospice care, rights they are denied when they are not informed of their options. In the same way, women's rights are being violated when they are not aware of sedated birth options in late term pregnancy. This law will enable persons considering their options related to the course of their pregnancy to consider all options and make a choice they are happy with based on knowledge of these options and informed consent. At the current time, people considering the course of their pregnancy post 24 weeks gestation, as well as the general public, are not aware of sedated birth or perinatal hospice. To not inform people of these choic- es is an injustice and results in inequality of care. This lack of information marginalizes the subset of patients seeking reproductive health options. The intent of this law is to end the lack of informed consent and to end the inequality and injustice in reproductive health by requiring health- care providers to inform patients of the options of sedated birth and perinatal hospice. The current state of comprehensive reproductive healthcare is not in alignment with New York's public policy that states that every individual possesses a fundamental right of privacy and equality with respect to their personal reproductive decisions and should be able to safely effectuate those decisions. This law would enable individuals to exercise these rights.   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: A.3752 of 2021/22-held for consideration in Health; A3479 of 2023/24-eferred to health   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: Undetermined.   EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.
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A05161 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          5161
 
                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    February 12, 2025
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by M. of A. DeSTEFANO, E. BROWN -- read once and referred to
          the Committee on Health
 
        AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to providing pregnant
          persons with alternative birth choices to preserve the life of a fetus
          when electing to have an abortion

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section  1.  Subdivision 2 of section 2599-bb of the public health law
     2  is renumbered subdivision 7 and five new subdivisions 2, 3, 4, 5  and  6
     3  are added to read as follows:
     4    2.  For purposes of this section, the following terms have the follow-
     5  ing definitions:
     6    (a) "Sedated birth" shall mean a procedure to take place past  twenty-
     7  four  weeks  of pregnancy as an alternative to abortion where a pregnant
     8  person receives general anesthesia and medical interventions  to  induce
     9  labor  and  delivery,  while medical interventions are not taken to stop
    10  the heartbeat or otherwise end the life of the fetus. The fetus is  then
    11  born alive and intact.
    12    (b)  "Perinatal  hospice"  shall mean specialized perinatal care which
    13  can take place at any point during a  pregnancy  as  an  alternative  to
    14  surgical  abortion  centered  on  ensuring  a  peaceful,  nonviolent and
    15  natural end to a baby's life that includes emotional support provided to
    16  the parents, the opportunity for parents to participate in  the  health-
    17  care  decision  making  process and the opportunity for parents to cele-
    18  brate their baby's life, whether such baby's life lasts for an amount of
    19  time after birth or ends naturally before birth.
    20    3. When a health care practitioner is caring  for  a  patient  who  is
    21  considering  abortion  and  such  abortion  would be performed more than
    22  twenty-four weeks  from  the  commencement  of  pregnancy  because  such
    23  abortion  is  necessary  to  protect such patient's life or health, such
    24  health care practitioner shall inform such patient before any  procedure
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD08204-01-5

        A. 5161                             2
 
     1  is  commenced  that surgical abortion is not a reversible procedure, and
     2  that such patient shall have the option to choose sedated  birth  as  an
     3  alternative to abortion.
     4    4.  When  a  health  care  practitioner is caring for a patient who is
     5  considering abortion, such health care practitioner  shall  inform  such
     6  patient  before any procedure is commenced that surgical abortion is not
     7  a reversible procedure, and that such patient shall have the  option  to
     8  choose perinatal hospice, if applicable, as an alternative to abortion.
     9    5.  A  health  care  practitioner shall inform patients considering an
    10  abortion procedure about the alternatives to abortions described in this
    11  section both verbally and in writing. Health  care  practitioners  shall
    12  document  in a patient's permanent medical record the time and date that
    13  information pertaining to such alternatives was provided to the patient.
    14    6. (a) If a patient should choose sedated birth as an  alternative  to
    15  abortion  pursuant  to  subdivision  three  of this section, the patient
    16  shall have the option once the procedure is completed to have  the  baby
    17  removed  from  such  patient's presence with no additional contact post-
    18  birth, whereas constituting an abandonment  of  the  child  pursuant  to
    19  section  three  hundred  seventy-two-g of the social services law, or to
    20  have the baby put up for adoption and the opportunity to  work  directly
    21  with an adoption agency post-birth.
    22    (b)  If  a  patient  should  choose to have the baby removed from such
    23  patient's presence with no contact post-birth, such baby would be placed
    24  under the care of the department of social services pursuant to  section
    25  three hundred seventy-two-g of the social services law.
    26    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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