Minnesota Session Laws - 2012, Regular Session

CHAPTER 152--H.F.No. 2676

An act

relating to health; modifying eligibility for grants;

amending Minnesota Statutes 2010, section 145.4235, subdivision 2.

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

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2010, section 145.4235, subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Eligibility for grants.

(a) The commissioner shall award grants to eligible applicants under paragraph (c) for the reasonable expenses of alternatives to abortion programs to support, encourage, and assist women in carrying their pregnancies to term and caring for their babies after birth by providing information on, referral to, and assistance with securing necessary services that enable women to carry their pregnancies to term and care for their babies after birth. Necessary services must include, but are not limited to:

(1) medical care;

(2) nutritional services;

(3) housing assistance;

(4) adoption services;

(5) education and employment assistance, including services that support the continuation and completion of high school;

(6) child care assistance; and

(7) parenting education and support services.

An applicant may not provide or assist a woman to obtain adoption services from a provider of adoption services that is not licensed.

(b) In addition to providing information and referral under paragraph (a), an eligible program may provide one or more of the necessary services under paragraph (a) that assists women in carrying their pregnancies to term. To avoid duplication of efforts, grantees may refer to other public or private programs, rather than provide the care directly, if a woman meets eligibility criteria for the other programs.

(c) To be eligible for a grant, an agency or organization must:

(1) be a private, nonprofit organization;

(2) demonstrate that the program is conducted under appropriate supervision;

(3) not charge women for services provided under the program;

(4) provide each pregnant woman counseled with accurate information on the developmental characteristics of babies and of unborn children, including offering the printed information described in section 145.4243;

(5) ensure that its alternatives-to-abortion program's purpose is to assist and encourage women in carrying their pregnancies to term and to maximize their potentials thereafter;

(6) ensure that none of the money provided is used to encourage or affirmatively counsel a woman to have an abortion not necessary to prevent her death, to provide her an abortion, or to directly refer her to an abortion provider for an abortion. The agency or organization may provide nondirective counseling; and

(7) have had the alternatives to abortion program in existence for at least one year as of July 1, deleted text begin 2005 deleted text end new text begin 2011 new text end ; or incorporated an alternative to abortion program that has been in existence for at least one year as of July 1, deleted text begin 2005 deleted text end new text begin 2011 new text end .

(d) The provisions, words, phrases, and clauses of paragraph (c) are inseverable from this subdivision, and if any provision, word, phrase, or clause of paragraph (c) or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity applies to all of this subdivision.

(e) An organization that provides abortions, promotes abortions, or directly refers to an abortion provider for an abortion is ineligible to receive a grant under this program. An affiliate of an organization that provides abortions, promotes abortions, or directly refers to an abortion provider for an abortion is ineligible to receive a grant under this section unless the organizations are separately incorporated and independent from each other. To be independent, the organizations may not share any of the following:

(1) the same or a similar name;

(2) medical facilities or nonmedical facilities, including but not limited to, business offices, treatment rooms, consultation rooms, examination rooms, and waiting rooms;

(3) expenses;

(4) employee wages or salaries; or

(5) equipment or supplies, including but not limited to, computers, telephone systems, telecommunications equipment, and office supplies.

(f) An organization that receives a grant under this section and that is affiliated with an organization that provides abortion services must maintain financial records that demonstrate strict compliance with this subdivision and that demonstrate that its independent affiliate that provides abortion services receives no direct or indirect economic or marketing benefit from the grant under this section.

(g) The commissioner shall approve any information provided by a grantee on the health risks associated with abortions to ensure that the information is medically accurate.

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective retroactively from February 1, 2012. new text end

Presented to the governor April 2, 2012

Signed by the governor April 4, 2012, 09:19 a.m.