Missouri Bill Regarding Aborted Tissue Reporting Requirements (HB 2071)

HB 2071 would amend current Missouri law relating to aborted tissue report requirements.

Current law requires aborted tissue to be submitted to a board eligible or certified pathologist who is required to file a copy of the tissue report with the state department of health, the facility where the abortion was performed, and be made part of the patient’s permanent record.

HB 2071 would require that pathologists include a certification in the report that all submitted tissue has been disposed in accordance with state law.

In addition, beginning January 1, 2017, the health department would be required to make an annual report for the general assembly that includes the following for each abortion procedure:

• the termination procedure used with a clinical estimation of gestation;
• whether the department received the tissue for that abortion, along with the certification of the disposal of the remains; and
• the existence and nature, if any, of any inconsistencies or concerns between the abortion report required under section 188.052 and the tissue report.

STATUS

Three other bills (HB 2068, HB 2069, and HB 2070) related to fetal tissue were introduced by Rep. Diane Franklin in response to the heavily edited and discredited videos produced by the Center for Medical Progress in the summer of 2015.

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