A 5161: Provides pregnant persons with alternative birth choices to preserve the life of a fetus when electing to have an abortion by health care practitioners offering sedated birth and perinatal hospice procedures.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5161 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY February 12, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. DeSTEFANO, E. BROWN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to providing pregnant persons with alternative birth choices to preserve the life of a fetus when electing to have an abortion The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 2599-bb of the public health law 2 is renumbered subdivision 7 and five new subdivisions 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 3 are added to read as follows: 4 2. For purposes of this section, the following terms have the follow- 5 ing definitions: 6 (a) "Sedated birth" shall mean a procedure to take place past twenty- 7 four weeks of pregnancy as an alternative to abortion where a pregnant 8 person receives general anesthesia and medical interventions to induce 9 labor and delivery, while medical interventions are not taken to stop 10 the heartbeat or otherwise end the life of the fetus. The fetus is then 11 born alive and intact. 12 (b) "Perinatal hospice" shall mean specialized perinatal care which 13 can take place at any point during a pregnancy as an alternative to 14 surgical abortion centered on ensuring a peaceful, nonviolent and 15 natural end to a baby's life that includes emotional support provided to 16 the parents, the opportunity for parents to participate in the health- 17 care decision making process and the opportunity for parents to cele- 18 brate their baby's life, whether such baby's life lasts for an amount of 19 time after birth or ends naturally before birth. 20 3. When a health care practitioner is caring for a patient who is 21 considering abortion and such abortion would be performed more than 22 twenty-four weeks from the commencement of pregnancy because such 23 abortion is necessary to protect such patient's life or health, such 24 health care practitioner shall inform such patient before any procedure EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD08204-01-5 
 A. 5161 2 1 is commenced that surgical abortion is not a reversible procedure, and 2 that such patient shall have the option to choose sedated birth as an 3 alternative to abortion. 4 4. When a health care practitioner is caring for a patient who is 5 considering abortion, such health care practitioner shall inform such 6 patient before any procedure is commenced that surgical abortion is not 7 a reversible procedure, and that such patient shall have the option to 8 choose perinatal hospice, if applicable, as an alternative to abortion. 9 5. A health care practitioner shall inform patients considering an 10 abortion procedure about the alternatives to abortions described in this 11 section both verbally and in writing. Health care practitioners shall 12 document in a patient's permanent medical record the time and date that 13 information pertaining to such alternatives was provided to the patient. 14 6. (a) If a patient should choose sedated birth as an alternative to 15 abortion pursuant to subdivision three of this section, the patient 16 shall have the option once the procedure is completed to have the baby 17 removed from such patient's presence with no additional contact post- 18 birth, whereas constituting an abandonment of the child pursuant to 19 section three hundred seventy-two-g of the social services law, or to 20 have the baby put up for adoption and the opportunity to work directly 21 with an adoption agency post-birth. 22 (b) If a patient should choose to have the baby removed from such 23 patient's presence with no contact post-birth, such baby would be placed 24 under the care of the department of social services pursuant to section 25 three hundred seventy-two-g of the social services law. 26 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.