§ 63-1-738.13. Reporting forms - Submission of copies - Late fees - Public report - Alteration of dates.  


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  • A.  Within ninety (90) days after the Unborn Child Pain Awareness/Prevention Act becomes law, the State Department of Health shall prepare a reporting form for physicians containing a reprint of the Unborn Child Pain Awareness/Prevention Act and listing:

    1.  The number of females to whom the physician or an agent of the physician provided the information described in subsection A of Section 8 of this act; of that number, the number provided by telephone and the number provided in person; and of each of those numbers, the number provided in the capacity of a referring physician and the number provided in the capacity of a physician who is to perform the abortion or agent of such a physician;

    2.  The number of females who availed themselves of the opportunity to obtain a copy of the printed information described in Section 10 of this act other than on the web site, and the number who did not; and of each of those numbers, the number who, to the best of the information and belief of the reporting physician, went on to obtain the abortion; and

    3.  The number of abortions performed by the physician in which information otherwise required to be provided at least twenty-four (24) hours before the abortion was not so provided because an immediate abortion was necessary to avert the death of the female, and the number of abortions in which such information was not so provided because a delay would create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.

    B.  The Department shall ensure that copies of the reporting forms described in subsection A of this section are provided:

    1.  Within one hundred twenty days (120) days after the Unborn Child Pain Awareness/Prevention Act becomes law, to all physicians licensed to practice in this state;

    2.  To each physician who subsequently becomes newly licensed to practice in this state, at the same time as official notification to that physician that the physician is so licensed; and

    3.  By December 1 of each year, other than the calendar year in which forms are distributed in accordance with paragraph 1 of this subsection, to all physicians licensed to practice in this state.

    C.  By February 28 of each year following a calendar year in any part of which the Unborn Child Pain Awareness/Prevention Act was in effect, each physician who provided, or whose agent provided, information to one or more females in accordance with Section 8 of this act during the previous calendar year shall submit to the Department a copy of the form described in subsection A of this section, with the requested data entered accurately and completely.

    D.  Reports that are not submitted by the end of a grace period of thirty (30) days following the due date shall be subject to a late fee of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) for each additional thirty-day period or portion of a thirty-day period the reports are overdue.  Any physician required to report in accordance with this section who has not submitted a report, or has submitted only an incomplete report, more than one (1) year following the due date may, in an action brought by the State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision, be directed by a court of competent jurisdiction to submit a complete report within a period stated by court order or be subject to sanctions for civil contempt.

    E.  By June 30 of each year, the Department shall issue a public report providing statistics for the previous calendar year compiled from all of the reports covering that year submitted in accordance with this section for each of the items listed in subsection A of this section.  Each such report shall also provide the statistics for all previous calendar years, adjusted to reflect any additional information from late or corrected reports.  The Department shall take care to ensure that none of the information included in the public reports could reasonably lead to the identification of any individual providing or provided information in accordance with subsection A or B of Section 8 of this act.

    F.  The Department, by rule promulgated in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act, may alter the dates established by paragraph 3 of subsection B, subsection C, or subsection E of this section or consolidate the forms or reports described in this section with other forms or reports to achieve administrative convenience or fiscal savings or to reduce the burden of reporting requirements, so long as reporting forms are sent to all licensed physicians in the state at least once every year and the report described in subsection E of this section is issued at least once every year.

Added by Laws 2006, c. 185, § 13, eff. Nov. 1, 2006.