HB248 Summary

• Requires physicians to exercise reasonable professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of a child born alive after an abortion or attempted abortion at the same standard as any other newborn at the same gestational age.

• Establishes criminal penalties of not less than 20 years in state prison and a fine of not less than $100,000 for physicians who fail to preserve the life and health of a child born alive after abortion or attempted abortion.

• Grants a child born alive after abortion or attempted abortion the same rights, powers, and privileges as any other child born alive in the state, with the same physician-patient relationship available to other patients.

• Provides specific definitions including "born alive" (complete expulsion with breathing, heart beat, umbilical cord pulsation, or voluntary muscle movement after separation), "ectopic pregnancy," and "lethal anomaly."

• Prohibits civil liability for women on whom abortions are performed and requires the Attorney General to enforce the statute; fines collected are deposited in the General Fund.