Sale of and research on fetal body parts, final disposition of fetal body parts, cord blood banks, and providing a criminal penalty

Current law prohibits a person from knowingly and for valuable consideration acquiring, receiving, or otherwise transferring a human organ. Current federal law prohibits a person from knowingly acquiring, receiving, or otherwise transferring, in interstate commerce, any fetal tissue for valuable consideration. The bill prohibits any person from knowingly and for valuable consideration acquiring, receiving, or otherwise transferring a fetal body part and from knowingly using, for research, a fetal body part that is provided or received for valuable consideration. The bill prohibits knowingly acquiring or receiving any fetal body part for research from a for-profit entity, an abortion clinic, or an entity that has as its primary function obtaining fetal tissue for sale. The bill prohibits the altering of the timing, method, or procedures used to terminate a woman's pregnancy solely for the purpose of obtaining a fetal body part for research. The bill also prohibits a woman's attending physician who obtains a fetal body part from being involved in performing research on the fetal body part.

A person who uses or receives a fetal body part for research is required by the bill to obtain written documentation that the entity that provided the fetal body part did not obtain the fetal body part for valuable consideration and to maintain that written documentation for seven years. Before using a fetal body part in research, an institutional review board must review the documentation from the entity that provided the fetal body part to determine that informed consent was obtained in accordance with federal law and that other requirements specified in the bill are met.

The bill also exempts from criminal or civil liability or charges of unprofessional conduct a person who conscientiously objects to participation in research utilizing a fetal body part that violates that person's moral or religious beliefs.

The bill requires that a physician who performs or induces an abortion in this state arrange for the final disposition of the fetal body parts. Final disposition, under the bill, means the disposition of fetal body parts by burial, interment, entombment, cremation, or incineration.