SF 917

3rd Engrossment - 84th Legislature (2005 - 2006) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to health; providing for grants related to 
  1.3             positive abortion alternatives; appropriating money; 
  1.4             proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, 
  1.5             chapter 127A. 
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  [127A.145] [POSITIVE ABORTION ALTERNATIVES.] 
  1.8      Subdivision 1.  [DEFINITIONS.] For purposes of this 
  1.9   section, "abortion" means the use of any means to terminate the 
  1.10  pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant with knowledge that 
  1.11  the termination with those means will, with reasonable 
  1.12  likelihood, cause the death of the unborn child.  For purposes 
  1.13  of this section, abortion does not include an abortion necessary 
  1.14  to prevent the death of the mother.  
  1.15     Subd. 2.  [ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANTS.] (a) The commissioner of 
  1.16  education shall award grants to eligible applicants under 
  1.17  paragraph (c) for the reasonable expenses of alternatives to 
  1.18  abortion programs to support, encourage, and assist women in 
  1.19  carrying their pregnancies to term and caring for their babies 
  1.20  after birth by providing information on, referral to, and 
  1.21  assistance with securing necessary services that enable women to 
  1.22  carry their pregnancies to term and care for their babies after 
  1.23  birth.  Necessary services must include, but are not limited to: 
  1.24     (1) medical care; 
  1.25     (2) nutritional services; 
  2.1      (3) housing assistance; 
  2.2      (4) adoption services; 
  2.3      (5) education and employment assistance, including services 
  2.4   that support the continuation and completion of high school; 
  2.5      (6) child care assistance; and 
  2.6      (7) parenting education and support services. 
  2.7   An applicant may not provide or assist a woman to obtain 
  2.8   adoption services from a provider of adoption services that is 
  2.9   not licensed. 
  2.10     (b) In addition to providing information and referral under 
  2.11  paragraph (a), an eligible program may provide one or more of 
  2.12  the necessary services under paragraph (a) that assists women in 
  2.13  carrying their pregnancies to term.  To avoid duplication of 
  2.14  efforts, grantees may refer to other public or private programs, 
  2.15  rather than provide the care directly, if a woman meets 
  2.16  eligibility criteria for the other programs. 
  2.17     (c) To be eligible for a grant, an agency or organization 
  2.18  must: 
  2.19     (1) be a private, nonprofit organization; 
  2.20     (2) demonstrate that the program is conducted under 
  2.21  appropriate supervision; 
  2.22     (3) not charge women for services provided under the 
  2.23  program; 
  2.24     (4) provide each pregnant woman counseled with accurate 
  2.25  information on the developmental characteristics of babies and 
  2.26  of unborn children, including offering the printed information 
  2.27  described in section 145.4243; 
  2.28     (5) ensure that its alternatives-to-abortion program's 
  2.29  purpose is to assist and encourage women in carrying their 
  2.30  pregnancies to term and to maximize their potentials thereafter; 
  2.31  and 
  2.32     (6) ensure that none of the money provided is used to 
  2.33  encourage a woman to have an abortion not necessary to prevent 
  2.34  her death or to provide her an abortion.  
  2.35     (d) The provisions, words, phrases, and clauses of 
  2.36  paragraph (c) are inseverable from this subdivision, and if any 
  3.1   provision, word, phrase, or clause of paragraph (c) or its 
  3.2   application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the 
  3.3   invalidity applies to all of this subdivision. 
  3.4      (e) An organization that provides abortions, promotes 
  3.5   abortions, or encourages or arranges for abortions is ineligible 
  3.6   to receive a grant under this program.  An affiliate of an 
  3.7   organization that provides abortions, promotes abortions, or 
  3.8   encourages or arranges for abortions is ineligible to receive a 
  3.9   grant under this section unless the organizations are separately 
  3.10  incorporated and independent from each other.  To be 
  3.11  independent, the organizations may not share any of the 
  3.12  following: 
  3.13     (1) the same or a similar name; 
  3.14     (2) medical facilities or nonmedical facilities, including 
  3.15  but not limited to, business offices, treatment rooms, 
  3.16  consultation rooms, examination rooms, and waiting rooms; 
  3.17     (3) expenses; 
  3.18     (4) employee wages or salaries; or 
  3.19     (5) equipment or supplies, including but not limited to, 
  3.20  computers, telephone systems, telecommunications equipment, and 
  3.21  office supplies. 
  3.22     (f) An organization that receives a grant under this 
  3.23  section and that is affiliated with an organization that 
  3.24  provides abortion services must maintain financial records that 
  3.25  demonstrate strict compliance with this subdivision and that 
  3.26  demonstrate that its independent affiliate that provides 
  3.27  abortion services receives no direct or indirect economic or 
  3.28  marketing benefit from the grant under this section. 
  3.29     (g) If an organization or agency receiving a grant under 
  3.30  this section provides information on abortion, the information 
  3.31  provided must be objective, nonjudgmental, and designed to 
  3.32  convey only accurate scientific information.  The commissioner 
  3.33  of education, in consultation with the commissioner of health, 
  3.34  shall approve any information provided by a grantee on the 
  3.35  health risks associated with abortions to ensure that the 
  3.36  information meets this requirement.  
  4.1      Subd. 3.  [PRIVACY PROTECTION.] (a) Any program receiving a 
  4.2   grant under this section must have a privacy policy and 
  4.3   procedures in place to ensure that the name, address, telephone 
  4.4   number, or any other information that might identify any woman 
  4.5   seeking the services of the program is not made public or shared 
  4.6   with any other agency or organization without the written 
  4.7   consent of the woman.  All communications between the program 
  4.8   and the woman must remain confidential.  For purposes of any 
  4.9   medical care provided by the program, including, but not limited 
  4.10  to, pregnancy tests or ultrasonic scanning, the program must 
  4.11  adhere to the requirements in section 144.335 that apply to 
  4.12  providers before releasing any information relating to the 
  4.13  medical care provided. 
  4.14     (b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), the commissioner of 
  4.15  education has access to any information necessary to monitor and 
  4.16  review a grantee's program as required under subdivision 4.  
  4.17     Subd. 4.  [DUTIES OF COMMISSIONER.] The commissioner of 
  4.18  education shall make grants under subdivision 2 beginning no 
  4.19  later than July 1, 2006.  In awarding grants, the commissioner 
  4.20  shall consider the program's demonstrated capacity in providing 
  4.21  services to assist a pregnant woman in carrying her pregnancy to 
  4.22  term.  The commissioner shall monitor and review the programs of 
  4.23  each grantee to ensure that the grantee carefully adheres to the 
  4.24  purposes and requirements of subdivision 2 and shall cease 
  4.25  funding a grantee that fails to do so. 
  4.26     Subd. 5.  [SEVERABILITY.] Except as provided in subdivision 
  4.27  2, paragraph (d), if any provision, word, phrase, or clause of 
  4.28  this section or its application to any person or circumstance is 
  4.29  held invalid, the invalidity does not affect the provisions, 
  4.30  words, phrases, clauses, or applications of this section that 
  4.31  can be given effect without the invalid provision, word, phrase, 
  4.32  clause, or application and to this end, the provisions, words, 
  4.33  phrases, and clauses of this section are severable. 
  4.34     Sec. 2.  [APPROPRIATIONS; COMMUNITY HEALTH AND FAMILY 
  4.35  PROMOTION.] 
  4.36     $2,500,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the 
  5.1   commissioner of education for positive abortion alternatives 
  5.2   under new Minnesota Statutes, section 127A.145.  Of this amount, 
  5.3   $50,000 is available for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006, 
  5.4   and $100,000 is available for the fiscal year ending June 30, 
  5.5   2007, for administrative costs of implementing the grant 
  5.6   program.  The balance of the appropriation is available for the 
  5.7   fiscal year ending June 30, 2007.