MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Public Health and Welfare

By: Senator(s) Gunn

Senate Bill 2055

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 41-75-26, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROHIBIT AND PRESCRIBE CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR PERFORMING PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTIONS, TO REQUIRE REVOCATION OF THE LICENSE OF THE PHYSICIAN AND THE FACILITY IN WHICH SUCH PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION OCCURRED, TO PROVIDE THAT ANYONE ASSISTING THE PHYSICIAN IS GUILTY OF ACCESSORY BEFORE THE FACT, AND TO CREATE A CIVIL ACTION WHICH MAY BE BROUGHT BY THE FATHER AND THE MATERNAL GRANDPARENTS OF THE ABORTED FETUS IN SUCH SITUATIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 41-75-26, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

41-75-26. (1) Any person or persons or other entity or entities establishing, managing or operating an abortion facility or conducting the business of an abortion facility without the required license, or which otherwise violate any provision of this chapter regarding abortion facilities or the rules, regulations and standards promulgated in furtherance thereof shall be subject to revocation of the license of the abortion facility or nonlicensure of the abortion facility. In addition, any violation of any provision of this chapter regarding abortion facilities or of the rules, regulations and standards promulgated in furtherance thereof by intent, fraud, deceit, unlawful design, willful and/or deliberate misrepresentation, or by careless, negligent or incautious disregard for such statutes or rules, regulations and standards, either by persons acting individually or in concert with others, shall constitute a misdemeanor and shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) for each such offense. Each day of continuing violation shall be considered a separate offense. The venue for prosecution of any such violation shall be in any county of the state wherein any such violation, or portion thereof, occurred.

(2) The Attorney General, upon certification by the executive director of the licensing agency, shall seek injunctive relief in a court of proper jurisdiction to prevent violations of the provisions of this chapter regarding abortion facilities or the rules, regulations and standards promulgated in furtherance thereof in cases where other administrative penalties and legal sanctions imposed have failed to prevent or cause a discontinuance of any such violation.

(3)(a) Whoever knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus shall, upon conviction, be fined not to exceed One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) under this subsection (3) or imprisoned not more than two (2) years, or both.

(b) As used in this subsection (3), the term "partial-birth abortion" means an abortion in which the person performing the abortion partially vaginally delivers a living fetus before killing the fetus and completing the delivery.

(c)(i) The father, and if the mother has not attained the age of eighteen (18) years at the time of the abortion, the maternal grandparents of the fetus, may in a civil action obtain appropriate relief, unless the pregnancy resulted from the plaintiff's criminal conduct or the plaintiff consented to the abortion.

(ii) Such relief shall include:

(A) Money damages for all injuries, psychological and physical, occasioned by the violation of this section; and

(B) Statutory damages equal to three (3) times the cost of the partial-birth abortion.

(iii) A woman upon whom a partial-birth abortion is performed may not be prosecuted under this subsection for a conspiracy to violate this subsection.

(iv) It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution or a civil action under this subsection (3), which must be proved by a preponderance of the evidence, that the partial-birth abortion was performed by a physician who reasonably believed:

(A) The partial-birth abortion was necessary to save the life of the mother; and

(B) No other procedure would suffice for that purpose.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from

and after July 1, 1997.