PARTIAL BIRTH BAN S.B. 776 & 1049: ANALYSIS AS PASSED BY THE SENATE

Senate Bills 776 and 1049 (as passed by the Senate) Sponsor: Senator Cameron S. Brown (S.B. 776) Senator John Pappageorge (S.B. 1049) Committee: Health Policy (S.B. 776) Judiciary (S.B. 1049)

Date Completed: 6-6-08

RATIONALE

In recent years, opponents of a procedure would be guilty of a felony called "partial-birth abortion" have made punishable by imprisonment for up to efforts to criminalize that practice. In 2003, two years and/or a maximum fine of both the Michigan Legislature and the United $50,000. States Congress approved legislation on this -- Make an exception for a partial-birth subject. At the Federal level, the Congress abortion that was necessary to save passed and President Bush signed the the mother's life. "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act", and the -- Provide that a woman who obtained United States Supreme Court upheld the law a partial-birth abortion would not be in April 2007. In Michigan, the Legislature guilty of a violation. approved a bill creating the "Legal Birth -- Allow the mother's spouse or, if the Definition Act", which Governor Granholm mother were a minor, her parents, to vetoed. The Act then was proposed by bring a civil action against the person initiative petition and passed into law who performed a partial-birth without the Governor's signature. In June abortion. 2007, however, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court -- Specify legislative findings. of Appeals affirmed a ruling of the U.S. District Court that the Act is Senate Bill 1049 would amend the Code unconstitutional. On January 7, 2008, the of Criminal Procedure to include a U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the partial-birth abortion violation in the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals, sentencing guidelines as a Class G leaving the Act on the books but felony against a person with a statutory unenforceable. (The Federal and State maximum sentence of two years' legislation and related court decisions are imprisonment. described in BACKGROUND, below.) Since the Federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act Senate Bill 1049 is tie-barred to Senate Bill has been found constitutional, opponents of 776, which is described in detail below. this abortion procedure believe that Michigan should enact legislation that would Penalty mirror the Federal law. Under Senate Bill 776, except as otherwise CONTENT provided, a physician, an individual performing an act, task, or function under Senate Bill 776 would add the "Partial- the delegatory authority of a physician, or Birth Abortion Ban Act" to the Michigan any other individual who was not a physician Penal Code to do the following: or not otherwise legally authorized to perform an abortion who knowingly -- Provide that a person who knowingly performed a partial-birth abortion and killed performed a partial-birth abortion a human fetus would be guilty of a felony

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punishable by imprisonment for up to two Legislative Findings years and/or a fine of up to $50,000. The bill states the following legislative It would not be a violation if in the findings: physician's reasonable medical judgment a partial-birth abortion were necessary to save -- "That partial-birth pose serious the life of a mother whose life was risks to the health of a woman, no endangered by a physical disorder, physical credible medical evidence exists that illness, or physical injury. partial-birth abortions are safe, and partial-birth abortions are never A woman who obtained or sought to obtain a medically necessary to preserve the partial-birth abortion would not be a health of the mother." conspirator to commit a violation of the -- "That the state has a compelling interest proposed Act. in preserving and protecting the life of the mother and the child by prohibiting "Partial-birth abortion" would mean an partial-birth abortions." abortion in which the physician, an -- "That a prominent medical association individual acting under the delegatory has determined that a partial-birth authority of the physician, or any other abortion is not an accepted medical individual performing the abortion practice, is broadly disfavored by medical deliberately and intentionally vaginally experts and the public, and is ethically delivers a living fetus until, in the case of a wrong and never the only appropriate headfirst presentation, the entire fetal head procedure; and that a partial-birth is outside the body of the mother, or in the abortion has never been subject to even case of a breech presentation, any part of a minimal amount of the normal medical the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the practice development, and therefore the body of the mother, for the purpose of relative advantages and disadvantages of performing an overt act that the person the partial-birth procedure in specific knows will kill the partially delivered living circumstances remain unknown and no fetus, and performs the overt act that kills consensus exists among obstetricians the partially delivered living fetus rather about the performance of partial-birth than completing the delivery. abortions." -- "That the physician who is credited with "Physician" would mean an individual developing the partial-birth abortion licensed by the State to engage in the procedure has testified that he has never practice of medicine or osteopathic medicine encountered a situation in which a and surgery under the Public Health Code. partial-birth abortion was medically necessary to preserve the health of a Civil Action by Spouse or Parent woman." -- "That a ban on partial-birth abortions will The spouse of the mother, or, if she were advance the health interests of pregnant younger than 18 at the time of the partial- women seeking to terminate a birth abortion, either of her parents, could pregnancy." file a civil action against the physician or -- "That, according to a prominent medical other individual who performed the association, a partial-birth abortion is procedure for a violation of the proposed Act ethically different from other abortion unless the pregnancy were a result of the procedures because it normally involves plaintiff's criminal conduct or the plaintiff the killing of a fetus that has completed consented to the procedure. A plaintiff who at least 20 weeks of gestation outside of prevailed in a civil action could recover both the womb. In light of the findings related of the following: to Roe v Wade and v Casey, the partial delivery of a fetus -- Actual damages, including damages for gives the fetus an autonomy which emotional distress. separates it from the right of a woman to -- Treble damages for the cost of the choose treatments for her own body." partial-birth abortion. -- "That a partial-birth abortion confuses the medical, legal, and ethical duties of a physician to preserve and promote life. By performing a partial-birth abortion,

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the physician acts directly against his or involved, violated the Due Process Clause of her duties to preserve and promote the the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court life of a child, whom he or she had just found that the constitutional right of privacy delivered, all but the head, out of the "is broad enough to encompass a woman's womb, in order to end that life." decision whether or not to terminate her -- "That, by aborting a child in the manner pregnancy...but that this right is not that purposefully seeks to kill the child unqualified and must be considered against after he or she has begun the process of important state interests in regulation"; and, birth, a partial-birth abortion procedure "a State may properly assert important undermines the public's perception of the interests in safeguarding health, in appropriate role of a physician during the maintaining medical standards, and in delivery process and perverts a process protecting potential life. At some point in during which life is brought into the pregnancy, these respective interests world, in order to destroy a partially born become sufficiently compelling to sustain child." regulation of the factors that govern the -- "That the gruesome and inhumane nature abortion decision". of the partial-birth abortion procedure and its disturbing similarity to the killing The Court concluded that, for the stage of a newborn infant promotes a complete before the approximate end of the first disregard for infant human life that can trimester, the abortion decision and its only be countered by a prohibition of the effectuation must be left to the medical partial-birth abortion procedure." judgment of the pregnant woman's attending physician. For the stage after the The bill also contains the following finding: approximate end of the first trimester, the "That based on Roe v Wade and Planned state, in promoting its interest in the health Parenthood v Casey, a governmental of the mother, may regulate the abortion interest in protecting the life of a child procedure in ways that are reasonably during the delivery process arises because a related to maternal health. For the stage partial-birth abortion involves the subsequent to viability, the state, in inducement of labor and the beginning of promoting its interest in the potentiality of the birth process. This distinction was human life, may regulate and even proscribe recognized in Roe when the court noted, abortion except when it is necessary, in without comment, that the Texas Parturition appropriate medical judgment, for the Statute, which prohibited one from killing a preservation of the life or health of the child in a state of being born and before mother. actual birth, was not under attack. This interest becomes compelling as the child Planned Parenthood of Southeastern emerges from the maternal body. A child v Casey (505 U.S. 833) that is completely born is a full, legal person entitled to constitutional protections afforded In this 1992 plurality opinion, which dealt a person. Partial-birth abortions involve the with the issue of informed consent to killing of a child that is in the process of abortion, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed being born, in fact mere inches away from the essential holdings in Roe that: A woman becoming a person. Thus, the government has the right to terminate her pregnancy has a heightened interest in protecting the before fetal viability occurs without any life of a partially born child." undue interference from the state; a state has the power to restrict abortions after Proposed MCL 750.90h (S.B. 776) viability, if the law contains exceptions for a MCL 777.16d (S.B. 1049) pregnancy that endangers the woman's life or health; and the state has a legitimate BACKGROUND interest from the outset of a pregnancy in protecting the health of the woman and the Roe v Wade (410 U.S. 113) potential life of the fetus that may become a child. The Court, however, also affirmed an In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a earlier decision in Webster v Reproductive Texas law that criminalized abortions except Health Services (492 U.S. 490) to reject the those necessary to save the mother's life, rigid trimester framework outlined in Roe, without regard to pregnancy stage and reasoning that that approach was without recognition of the other interests

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incompatible with the state's interest in After reviewing various abortion procedures, potential life throughout the pregnancy. the Court determined that Nebraska's law criminalizing partial-birth abortion violated The plurality Casey opinion adopted an the Constitution for at least two reasons. "undue burden" standard for evaluating a Quoting Casey, the Court concluded that state's abortion restrictions and held that an "the law lacks any exception 'for the undue burden exists when a provision of law preservation of the...health of the mother'" has the purpose or effect of placing a and that "it 'imposes an undue burden on a "substantial obstacle" in the path of a woman's ability' to choose a D&E abortion, woman seeking an abortion before fetal thereby unduly burdening the right to viability. Using this standard, the Court choose abortion itself". (The Court identified ruled that Pennsylvania's informed consent , or D&E, as the most provisions--including a 24-hour waiting commonly used procedure in second period and fetal descriptions--did not pose trimester abortions.) The Court also an undue burden on a woman's right to determined that the Nebraska statute did terminate a pregnancy, although the Court not further an interest in the potential did reject a spousal notification requirement. human life of the fetus because it would not In upholding major portions of save the fetus from destruction, but would Pennsylvania's statute, the Court overruled regulate only a method of performing earlier informed consent decisions that, abortion. according to Casey, were inconsistent with the acknowledgment in Roe of an important Federal Prohibition interest in potential life. In 2003, Congress passed and President Stenberg v Carhart (530 U.S. 914) George W. Bush signed into law the Partial- Birth Abortion Ban Act (18 USC 1531). The In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court addressed Act prohibits a physician, acting in or the constitutionality of Nebraska's ban on affecting interstate or foreign commerce, partial-birth abortion. The Court declined to from knowingly performing a partial-birth revisit the established legal principle "that abortion, thereby killing a human fetus. The the Constitution offers basic protection to prohibition "does not apply to a partial-birth the woman's right to choose". Rather, it abortion that is necessary to save the life of applied to the Nebraska law three other a mother whose life is endangered by a established principles to determine the physical disorder, physical illness, or constitutionality of the partial-birth abortion physical injury, including a life-endangering ban. physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself". The Act prescribes a The three principles are: 1) Before viability, criminal penalty of a fine or up to two years' a woman has the right to choose termination imprisonment and includes provisions for of her pregnancy; 2) a law restricting civil actions. abortion is unconstitutional if it imposes an undue burden on the woman's decision The Act defines "partial-birth abortion" as an before fetal viability and that undue burden abortion in which the person performing the is "shorthand for the conclusion that a state procedure "deliberately and intentionally regulation has the purpose or effect of vaginally delivers a living fetus until, in the placing a substantial obstacle in the path of case of a head-first presentation, the entire a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetal head is outside the body of the mother, fetus"; and 3) "subsequent to viability, the or, in the case of breech presentation, any State in promoting its interest in the part of the fetal trunk past the navel is potentiality of human life may, if it chooses, outside the body of the mother, for the regulate, and even proscribe, abortion purpose of performing an overt act that the except where it is necessary, in appropriate person knows will kill the partially delivered medical judgment, for the preservation of living fetus". the life or health of the mother". Considering these principles, the Court held Gonzales v Carhart (550 U.S. ___) that the Nebraska statute was unconstitutional. In April 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned lower courts and upheld the Federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. The

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Court began its opinion with a description of delivered "for the purpose of performing an the surgical procedures typically used in overt act that the [doctor] knows will kill second trimester abortions. The usual [it]". If the physician intends from the start method, dilation and extraction (D&E), to remove the fetus in pieces (perform a involves dilating the cervix and extracting standard D&E), but the fetus comes out the fetus in pieces. The procedure that is largely intact, the requisite intent to commit commonly referred to as partial-birth a partial-birth abortion is absent, and the abortion is medically known as "intact D&E" physician is not criminally liable. or "dilation and extraction" (D&X), which means that the fetus is extracted intact or Regarding the Act's lack of a health largely intact. Intact D&E also begins with exception, the Court held, "The Act is not dilation of the cervix but extraction is done invalid on its face where there is uncertainty in a way conducive to removing the entire over whether the barred procedure is ever body. Because the head usually lodges in necessary to preserve a woman's health, the cervix and dilation is insufficient to allow given the availability of other abortion it to pass, the physician may make an procedures that are considered to be safe incision in the skull and remove the contents alternatives." The Court pointed out that (or crush the skull), before removing the the physician could perform a standard D&E fetus. Other second trimester abortion or, since the Act refers to a "living fetus", he methods include medical induction (in which or she could use an injection to kill the fetus labor and contractions are induced, and the before aborting it. The Court concluded, fetus is delivered), hysterotomy (in which "The medical uncertainty over whether the the fetus is removed through an incision in Act's prohibition creates significant health the woman's abdomen), and hysterectomy risks provides a sufficient basis to (which requires removal of the entire conclude…that the Act does not impose an uterus). undue burden."

The Court applied the principles articulated Michigan Law in Casey and concluded, "[T]he Act is not void for vagueness, does not impose an In 2003, the Legislature approved Senate undue burden from any overbreadth, and is Bill 395, which proposed the Legal Birth not invalid on its face." The Court stated, Definition Act, and sent the bill to Governor "Compared to the state statute at issue in Granholm, who vetoed the measure. The Stenberg, the Act is more specific Act then was proposed by initiative petition concerning the instances to which it applies and passed into law by the Legislature, and in this respect more precise in its without the Governor's signature, becoming coverage." Since the prohibited procedure Public Act 135 of 2004. (Under Article 2, involves delivery of a fetus to certain Section 9 of the State Constitution, "anatomical landmarks" (i.e., the measures proposed by citizen initiative and presentation of the head or, in a breech approved by a majority vote of the Senate birth, the presentation of the trunk past the and House of Representatives become law navel), the Court held that the Act affords without the Governor's signature.) While doctors a reasonable opportunity to know the Act remains on the books, it has been what is prohibited: "Unlike the statutory found unconstitutional, as discussed below. language in Stenberg that prohibited delivery of a 'substantial portion' of the The Legal Birth Definition Act does not refer fetus—where a doctor might question how directly to any abortion procedure, but much of the fetus is a substantial portion— provides that a "perinate" is considered a the Act defines the line between potentially legally born person for all purposes under criminal conduct on the one hand and lawful the law. The Act defines "perinate" as "a abortion on the other." live human being at any point after which any anatomical part of the human being is The Court also pointed out that the Act know [sic] to have passed beyond the plane contains scienter (or knowledge) of the vaginal introitus until the point of requirements for all actions involved in the complete expulsion or extraction from the prohibited abortion. The physician must mother's body". "Live" means evidence of have "deliberately and intentionally" breathing, evidence of spontaneous delivered the fetus to one of the anatomical movement, or umbilical cord pulsation. landmarks, and the fetus must have been "Anatomical part" means any portion of the

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anatomy of a human being that has not fixable general prohibition on certain been severed from the body, but not abortion procedures" (emphasis in original). including the umbilical cord or placenta. On January 7, 2008, the United States The Act includes an immunity provision for Supreme Court declined to review the performing any procedure that results in decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals. injury or death of a perinate if the perinate is being expelled from the mother's body as ARGUMENTS a result of spontaneous abortion; or if, in the physician's reasonable medical judgment (Please note: The arguments contained in this and in compliance with the applicable analysis originate from sources outside the Senate standard of practice and care, the procedure Fiscal Agency. The Senate Fiscal Agency neither supports nor opposes legislation.) was necessary either 1) to save the life of the mother and every reasonable effort was Supporting Argument made to preserve the life of both the mother The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act proposed and the perinate, or 2) to avert an imminent by Senate Bill 776 is substantively the same threat to the physical health of the mother, as the Federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and any harm to the perinate was incidental that the U.S. Supreme Court found to treating the mother and not a known or constitutional. In particular, the proposed intended result of the procedure performed. definition of "partial-birth abortion" is virtually identical to the definition found in In June 2007, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of the Federal law, which relies on "anatomical Appeals affirmed the ruling of the U.S. landmarks" and gives abortion providers a District Court that the Legal Birth Definition reasonable opportunity to know what is Act is unconstitutional, in Northland Family prohibited—factors significant to the Court's Planning Clinic v Cox (Nos. 05-2417/2418). decision. The proposed exception to save The Court of Appeals found that "Michigan's the life of the mother also is nearly identical law fails to comply with the explicit to the exception found in the Federal law. limitations that the Supreme Court has In addition, like the Federal statute, the bill established for statutes regulating abortion". would require a person to act knowingly, deliberately, and intentionally in order to be The Court pointed out that, unlike the guilty of an offense. Enacting this bill would Federal prohibition upheld in Gonzales, the implement the wishes of the Michigan voters Michigan statute does not rely on anatomical who signed initiative petitions several years landmarks, but essentially would prohibit ago to enact the Legal Birth Definition Act any abortion procedure in which any after the Governor vetoed it. anatomical part of a live fetus is removed from the mother's body. The Court opined Supporting Argument that this "necessarily means it applies to Although Roe v Wade established a woman's D&E procedures" and also could apply to right to choose an abortion, that landmark other protected abortion procedures. The case also held that the right is not without Court stated, "Gonzales left undisturbed the qualification and that there is a significant holding from Stenberg that a prohibition on state interest in the potentiality of human D&E amounts to an undue burden on a life. By definition, partial-birth abortion woman's right to terminate her pregnancy". destroys a potential human life that is, as "[I]t is apparent that the Michigan statute the bill states, "mere inches away from would prohibit D&E, and under the becoming a person", particularly when a framework of Stenberg and Gonzales, nearly full-term fetus is partially delivered impose an unconstitutional undue burden." and then killed. The procedure in question is more appropriately called "partial-birth Regarding the health exception in the infanticide", since there is a difference Michigan statute, the Court of Appeals found between terminating a pregnancy and that it could affirm the District Court's ruling terminating the life of a child being born. that the Act failed to protect the health of This medieval procedure that has fallen out the woman "without addressing the of modern medical practice and no longer complicated implications of Gonzales". The serves any purpose. Banning partial-birth Court of Appeals stated, "The bottom line is abortion would give meaning to the that the life and health exceptions are inalienable right to life that is recognized in exceptions to an unconstitutional and un- the Declaration of Independence, and would

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help define this State and its citizens as a outlaw one method of abortion. As the civilized society. dissent in Gonzales stated, "In sum, the notion that the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act Opposing Argument furthers any legitimate governmental Simply because legislation would be interest is, quite simply, irrational….[T]he constitutional does not mean that it would Act, and the Court's defense of it, cannot be be good public policy. This legislation would understood as anything other than an effort deny women access to what can be a safe to chip away at a right declared again and medical procedure, depending on an again by this Court—and with increasing individual woman's medical condition and comprehension of its centrality to women's history and the stage of her pregnancy. The lives." specific abortion procedure to employ under particular circumstances is a decision best Furthermore, despite the graphic made by the pregnant woman with the descriptions used by supporters of the advice of her physician. prohibition, the bill's definition of "partial- birth abortion" is not limited to late-term The bill, at least, should contain an abortions or viable fetuses (those capable of exception for situations in which partial-birth surviving outside the womb), when the abortion is necessary to protect the health of State has an interest in protecting potential the pregnant woman, including her future human life. The procedure or procedures fertility. Notwithstanding the legislative covered by the definition also can be finding that "partial-birth abortions are performed earlier in the pregnancy, when never medically necessary to preserve the the State has less justification to intrude on health of the mother", there is no consensus a woman's abortion decision. The legislation within the medical community on this issue. would encroach on the right of women to Like the other legislative findings in the bill, terminate a pregnancy at any stage. that statement was lifted from the Response: The U.S. Supreme Court in Congressional findings in the Federal law Casey rejected the interpretation of Roe that and, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, is considered all previablity regulations of incorrect. As the Court stated, "The abortion unwarranted, and overruled the evidence presented in the District Courts holdings in two prior cases because they contradicts that conclusion." Although the undervalued the State's interest in potential Court used the "medical uncertainty over human life. The Gonzales majority opinion whether the Act's prohibition creates reiterated the principle articulated in Casey significant health risks" as a basis to that, "[T]he State has legitimate interests conclude that the Act did not impose an from the outset of the pregnancy in undue burden, that decision addressed the protecting the health of the woman and the issue of constitutionality. It does not life of the fetus that may become a child" prevent Michigan from setting a higher (emphasis added). standard of protection for women seeking to terminate a pregnancy. Opposing Argument The language used in Senate Bill 776 is both Opponents of partial-birth abortion talk unscientific and ambiguous. The term about the value of human life, and the bill "partial-birth abortion" is not used in contains a legislative finding that partial- medical textbooks, and the bill's definition is birth abortion "promotes a complete not aligned with a specific medical disregard for infant human life". At the procedure. According to the Michigan State same time, however, opponents of this Medical Society, the proposed language still procedure claim that the ban is necessary to would require a fair amount of interpretation protect women's health, and that safer by physicians as well as by the prosecutors procedures are available. The U.S. Supreme and other authorities charged with enforcing Court also relied on the availability of the legislation. This ambiguity could have a alternative abortion procedures to uphold chilling effect on procedures other than the Federal law, and pointed out that, to "partial-birth abortion". This bill also would avoid criminal liability, doctors "must adjust diminish the doctor-relationship by their conduct to the law by not attempting preventing physicians from using their to deliver the fetus to either of [the clinical experience and judgment. anatomical landmarks]". Rather than Response: The State's interest in protecting human life, the bill merely would regulating the practice of medicine and

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protecting the public's health justifies any medical association" and the alleged impact on the doctor-patient relationship. testimony of a particular physician. The bill Many laws—such as the prohibition on also includes inflammatory statements, such physician-assisted suicide, immunization as references to the "gruesome and requirements, and HIV testing inhumane nature" of the procedure and "its requirements—already affect the doctor- disturbing similarity to the killing of a patient relationship. In fact, health care is newborn child". Any abortion procedure (or probably among the most regulated sectors any surgical procedure) might be considered of this society. gruesome if described in the detail used to depict "partial-birth abortion". Opposing Argument Senate Bills 776 and 1049 would set a As noted above, the language in the bill dangerous precedent by criminalizing certain mirrors the Congressional findings stated in aspects of the practice of medicine. the Federal law, some of which the U.S. Historically, legislation has assured that Supreme Court found to be incorrect. physicians are held to appropriate standards Rather than relying on the Congressional through review by other physicians, and the findings to uphold the Federal law, the Court State has created a mechanism to address stated, "Uncritical deference to Congress' deviations from the standard of practice factual findings in these cases is through the Board of Medicine and the Board inappropriate." of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery. This regulatory approach provides due process Opposing Argument and careful scrutiny of a particular case, and It is ironic that Senate Bill 776 would create prevents physicians from becoming targets a private cause of action and access to of law enforcement even though they have damages for relatives of women who not broken the law, which can happen when received a partial-birth abortion, when enforcement is done by individuals without Michigan residents cannot sue the education and training of medical pharmaceutical companies for their actions professionals. that result in death. Response: The Federal statute also Opposing Argument allows a civil suit by the father and the The legislation would be an unnecessary maternal grandparents of the aborted fetus. duplication of the Federal law. Partial-birth abortion in Michigan already can be Legislative Analyst: Suzanne Lowe prosecuted under that statute. Response: In order for the Michigan FISCAL IMPACT Attorney General and county prosecuting attorneys to prosecute partial-birth abortion, The bills would have an indeterminate fiscal it is necessary to have a State law impact on State and local government. criminalizing that practice. These officials There are no data to indicate how many cannot enforce the Federal law. In addition, offenders would be convicted of the considering the resources available and the proposed offense. An offender convicted of magnitude of the offense, State and local the Class G offense would receive a prosecutors would be more likely than their sentencing guidelines minimum sentence Federal counterparts to bring charges for range of 0-3 months to 7-23 months. Local partial-birth abortion. Also, while both the governments would incur the costs of bill and the Federal law provide for up to two incarceration in local facilities, which vary by years' imprisonment, the Federal law does county. The State would incur the cost of not prescribe a specific fine. The proposed felony probation at an annual average cost $50,000 maximum fine could be an effective of $2,000, as well as the cost of deterrent to someone motivated by money. incarceration in a State facility at an average annual cost of $33,000. Additional penal Opposing Argument fine revenue would benefit public libraries. Senate Bill 776 states many legislative findings that are medical in nature and Fiscal Analyst: Lindsay Hollander contain considerable language that is not typically not put in statute. This includes A0708\s776a unsubstantiated statements, such as a This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not determination and position of a "prominent constitute an official statement of legislative intent.

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