PROHIBIT CERTAIN ABORTION PROCEDURES

House Bill 4320 as introduced

Sponsor:  Rep. Pamela Hornberger

House Bill 4321 as introduced

Sponsor:  Rep. Lynn Afendoulis

Committee:  Families, Children and Seniors

Complete to 4-23-19

SUMMARY:

House Bill 4320 would define the term dismemberment abortion, prohibit such a procedure, and apply to a violation the same criminal penalty and civil remedies as currently provided for a partial-birth abortion. House Bill 4321 would revise the sentencing guidelines for a violation of the prohibition on partial-birth abortions to also include a dismemberment abortion.

Currently, section 90h of the Michigan Penal Code, entitled the “Partial-birth Abortion Ban Act,” does all of the following:

·         Provides that a person who performs a partial-birth abortion is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for up to two years and/or a fine of up to $50,000.

·         Makes an exception for a partial-birth abortion that is necessary to save the mother’s life.

·         Provides that a woman who obtains a partial-birth abortion is not guilty of a violation.

·         Allows the mother’s spouse or, if the mother is a minor, her parents, to bring a civil action against the person who performed a partial-birth abortion.  

House Bill 4320 would rename the section as the “Partial-birth Abortion and Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act.” The bill would apply the above provisions to both a dismemberment abortion and a partial-birth abortion.

Dismemberment abortion would mean an abortion in which the physician, an individual acting under the delegatory authority of the physician, or any other individual performing the abortion deliberately and intentionally uses any instrument, device, or object to dismember a living fetus by disarticulating limbs or decapitating the head from the fetal torso and removing the dismembered fetal body parts from the uterus regardless of whether the fetal body parts are removed by the same instrument, device, or object or by suction or other means. It would not include an abortion that uses suction to dismember and remove the body of a fetus from the uterus.

The bill also contains language regarding the severability and construction of its provisions. (All Michigan laws are severable under MCL 8.5.)

MCL 750.90h

House Bill 4321 amends the sentencing guidelines chapter of the Code of Criminal Procedure to specify that performing or assisting in performance of a partial-birth abortion or dismemberment abortion is a Class G felony against a person with a maximum term of imprisonment of two years.

House Bill 4321 is tie-barred to House Bill 4320, which means that it could not take effect unless House Bill 4320 were also enacted.

MCL 777.16d

The bills would take effect January 1, 2021.

FISCAL IMPACT:

House Bill 4320 would have an indeterminate fiscal impact on the state and on local units of government. The number of persons who might be convicted under provisions of the bill is unknown. New felony convictions would result in increased costs related to state prisons and state probation supervision. In fiscal year 2018, the average cost of prison incarceration in a state facility was roughly $38,000 per prisoner, a figure that includes various fixed administrative and operational costs. State costs for parole and felony probation supervision averaged about $3,700 per supervised offender in the same year. Those costs are financed with state general fund/general purpose revenue. Any fiscal impact on the judiciary and local court systems would depend on how provisions of the bill affected caseloads and related administrative costs. Any increase in penal fine revenue would increase funding for local libraries, which are the constitutionally designated recipients of those revenues.

House Bill 4321 is a companion bill to HB 4320 and amends sentencing guidelines. The bill would not have a direct fiscal impact on the state or on local units of government.

                                                                                        Legislative Analyst:   E. Best

                                                                                                Fiscal Analyst:   Robin Risko

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.