AB656: Bill Text

AB656,15 Section 15. 457.26 (2) (gm) of the statutes is repealed.

AB656,16 Section 16. 632.8985 of the statutes is repealed.

AB656,17 Section 17. 939.75 (2) (b) 1. of the statutes is amended to read:

AB656,6,16 939.75 (2) (b) 1. An act committed during an induced abortion. This subdivision does not limit the applicability of ss. 940.04, 940.13, 940.15 and 940.16 to an induced abortion.

AB656,18 Section 18. 940.04 of the statutes is repealed.

AB656,19 Section 19. 940.15 (5) of the statutes is repealed.

AB656,20 Section 20. 968.26 (1b) (a) 2. a. of the statutes is amended to read:

AB656,6,25 968.26 (1b) (a) 2. a. Section 940.04, 940.11, 940.19 (2), (4), (5), or (6), 940.195 (2), (4), (5), or (6), 940.20, 940.201, 940.203, 940.205, 940.207, 940.208, 940.22 (2), 940.225 (3), 940.29, 940.302 (2) (c), 940.32, 941.32, 941.38 (2), 942.09 (2), 943.10, 943.205, 943.32 (1), 946.43, 946.44, 946.47, 946.48, 948.02 (3), 948.03 (2) (b) or (c), (3), or (4), 948.04, 948.055, 948.095, 948.10 (1) (a), 948.11, 948.13 (2) (a), 948.14, 948.20, 948.23 (1), (2), or (3) (c) 2. or 3., or 948.30 (1).

AB656,21 Section 21. 990.001 (17) (b) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB656,7,7 990.001 (17) (b) If a statute or rule refers to a live birth or to the circumstance in which an individual is born alive, the statute or rule shall be construed so that whoever undergoes a live birth as the result of an induced abortion, as defined in s. 253.10 (2) (a) 69.01 (13m), has the same legal status and legal rights as a human being at any point after the human being undergoes a live birth as the result of natural or induced labor or a cesarean section.

AB656,22 Section 22. 990.01 (19j) (b) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB656,7,15 990.01 (19j) (b) “Live birth" means the complete expulsion or extraction from his or her mother, of a human being, at any stage of development, who, after the expulsion or extraction, breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut, and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, a cesarean section, or an induced abortion, as defined in s. 253.10 (2) (a) 69.01 (13m).

AB656,23 Section 23. Nonstatutory provisions.

AB656,7,17 (1) Legislative findings. The legislature finds all of the following:

AB656,7,19 (a) Comprehensive reproductive health care, including safe abortions, is a vital component of a woman's overall health and must be protected.

AB656,7,21 (b) Access to abortion is a core component of women's social and economic equality.

AB656,7,24 (c) Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures in the United States. Data, including data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, show that abortion has over a 99 percent safety record.

AB656,7,25 (d) Any regulation of medical care must have a legitimate purpose.

AB656,8,2 (e) The goal of medical regulation should be to improve the quality of care and increase access to care.

AB656,8,5 (f) More than 40 years ago, the Supreme Court held in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), that access to abortion is a constitutional right and that states may not prohibit abortion prior to viability.

AB656,8,10 (g) The right to abortion prior to viability has been upheld time and again by the court, including in the 1992 case Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, and most recently in the landmark decision Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, 136 S. Ct. 2292 (2016), where the court reaffirmed once again a woman's constitutional right to access a safe, legal abortion.

AB656,8,13 (h) In Whole Woman's Health, the court struck down 2 Texas laws designed to close abortion providers in the state which the court concluded provided few, if any, health benefits for women.

AB656,8,17 (i) Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg concluded in her concurrence in Whole Woman's Health that, given the safety of abortion, “it is beyond rational belief that [Texas] H. B. 2 could genuinely protect the health of women, and certain that the law `would simply make it more difficult for them to obtain abortions.'”

AB656,8,20 (j) In Whole Woman's Health, the court held that the Constitution “requires courts to consider the burdens a law imposes on abortion access together with the benefits those laws confer.”

AB656,8,23 (k) In Whole Woman's Health, the court further held that courts “when determining the constitutionality of laws regulating abortion procedures,” must place “considerable weight upon evidence...presented.”

AB656,9,3 (L) In Whole Woman's Health, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in her concurrence that abortion restrictions that “do little or nothing for health, but rather strew impediments to abortion...cannot survive judicial inspection.”

AB656,9,9 (m) According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, and American Osteopathic Association, leading public health organizations and amici curiae for the petitioners in Whole Women's Health, “Women's access to high-quality, evidence-based abortion should not be limited by laws enacted under the guise of patient safety but that, in fact, harm women's health.”

AB656,9,13 (n) The 334 restrictions on abortion providers and their patients adopted nationally, 7 of which were adopted by the state of Wisconsin, since 2011 that were enacted based on pretextual reasons are just a systematic attempt to eliminate access to safe and legal medical care.

AB656,9,16 (o) In accordance with the U.S. Constitution, it is therefore the intent of the legislature of this state to prevent the enforcement of laws or regulations that burden abortion access and do not provide legitimate health benefits.

AB656,9,17 (End)