MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Welfare
By: Senator(s) McLendon
AN ACT TO ENACT THE SAFEGUARDING TEENS FROM OUT-OF-STATE PROCEDURES ACT; TO STATE LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS; TO DEFINE TERMS; TO CRIMINALIZE THE PROCUREMENT OF AN ABORTION FOR A MINOR GIRL, OBTAINING OF AN ABORTION-INDUCING DRUG OR THE AIDING OR ABETTING THE MINOR GIRL IN DOING SO BY HARBORING OR TRANSPORTING THE GIRL WITHIN THIS STATE; TO PROVIDE THAT SUCH A CRIME SHALL BE A FELONY; TO PROVIDE CRIMINAL PENALTIES; TO PROVIDE AN AFFIRMATIVE OFFENSE; TO CREATE A PRIVATE CAUSE OF ACTION; TO PROVIDE FOR SEVERABILITY OF THE ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Safeguarding Teens from Out-of-State Procedures Act" or the "STOP Act."
SECTION 2. The Legislature finds and declares that:
(a) The medical, emotional and psychological consequences of abortion are often serious and can be lasting, particularly when the patient is young or immature.
(b) Parents and guardians usually possess information essential to a health care provider's exercise of the provider's best medical judgment concerning a minor girl.
(c) Parents or a guardian should be consulted and provided with all relevant information related to any medical procedure their child may undergo, including abortion.
(d) Parents and guardians have the fundamental right to make health care decisions in their child's best interest and should be fully supported and informed as they make those decisions.
(e) Mississippi requires parental consent before a minor girl undergoes an abortion or receives abortion inducing drugs under Section 41-41-3 and Sections 41-41-51 through 41-41-63.
(f) Any adult who disregards or circumvents the parental involvement requirements of this state commits a crime and should also be held civilly liable to the minor girl's parents or guardian.
SECTION 3. As used in this act, the following words and phrases have the meanings ascribed in this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
(a) "Abortion" means the act of using or prescribing any instrument, medicine, drug or other substance, device or means with the intent to terminate the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman and for the purpose of ensuring the death of her unborn child. Such use, prescription or means is not an "abortion" if done with the intent to:
(i) Save the life or preserve the health of the unborn child;
(ii) Remove a dead unborn child caused by miscarriage;
(iii) Remove an ectopic pregnancy; or
(iv) Perform a pre-viability separation procedure when such procedure is, in reasonable medical judgment, necessary to save or preserve the life of the pregnant woman.
(b) "Abortion-inducing drug" means any medicine, drug or other substance prescribed or dispensed with the intent of terminating the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman and for the purpose of ensuring the death of her unborn child. "Abortion-inducing drug" includes the off-label use of drugs known to have abortion-inducing properties which are prescribed specifically with the intent of causing an abortion. "Abortion-inducing drug" does not include drugs that may be known to cause an abortion but which are prescribed for other medical indications.
(c) "Ectopic pregnancy" means the state of carrying an unborn child outside of the uterine cavity.
(d) "Harboring" means providing assistance to a minor girl in order to procure an abortion or to obtain abortion-inducing drugs without the knowledge, consent or involvement of her parents or legal guardian.
(e) "Minor girl" means a female resident of the State of Mississippi under the age of eighteen (18) who is not emancipated.
(f) "Miscarriage" means a spontaneous loss of the unborn child.
(g) "Transporting" means to move a minor girl within, into, out of or through the State of Mississippi for the purpose of procuring an abortion or obtaining abortion-inducing drugs.
(h) "Pre-viability separation procedure" means a medical procedure performed by a physician to remove an unborn child from his or her mother's uterine cavity before that stage of fetal development when, in the reasonable medical judgment of the physician based on the particular facts of the case before him or her and in light of the most advanced medical technology and information available to him or her, there is a reasonable likelihood of sustained survival of the unborn child outside the body of his or her mother, with or without artificial support. The term does not include an "abortion" as defined in paragraph (a) of this section.
SECTION 4. (1) Nothing in this act shall be construed as creating or recognizing a right to abortion.
(2) Any person who, with the intent to conceal an abortion from the parents or guardian of a minor girl, procures an abortion for the minor girl, obtains an abortion-inducing drug for the minor girl, or aids or abets the minor girl in procuring an abortion or obtaining an abortion-inducing drug, by harboring or transporting the minor girl within this state commits a felony punishable, upon conviction, by a term not to exceed fifteen (15) years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections or a fine not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), or both imprisonment and fine.
(3) As used in section, the terms "procure" and "obtain" shall not include providing information regarding a health benefit plan or constitutionally protected speech or expression.
(4) Nothing in this act may be construed to subject the minor girl to criminal conviction or penalty.
(5) (a) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution that a parent or guardian of the minor girl consented to the harboring or transporting of the minor girl.
(b) It is not an affirmative defense that the person or entity performing the abortion or providing the abortion-inducing drug is located in another state.
SECTION 5. (1) In addition to any and all remedies available under the common or statutory law of Mississippi, a person shall have a private cause of action for a violation of this act and may recover actual damages, punitive damages under Section 11-1-65, injunctive relief and reasonable attorney's fees and costs.
(2) Nothing in this act may be construed to subject the minor girl to civil liability or penalty.
SECTION 6. (1) Nothing in this act shall be construed as creating or recognizing a right to abortion.
(2) It is not the intention of this act to make lawful an abortion that is currently unlawful.
SECTION 7. The provisions of this act shall be severable under Section 1-3-77.
SECTION 8. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.