§87.3. Prohibited cutting, resection, excision, harvesting, removal, sale, receipt, research, commerce, or transport of fetal organs, tissues, and body parts; whistleblower account

A. No person may knowingly and for money, including but not limited to fees for storage or handling, any payments for reimbursement, repayments, or compensation, or any other consideration:

(1) Buy, sell, receive, or otherwise transfer or acquire a fetal organ or body part resulting from an induced abortion.

(2) Transport with the intent to sell or otherwise transfer a fetal organ or body part resulting from an induced abortion.

(3) Transport a fetal organ or body part resulting from an induced abortion that has been acquired by any person via any transaction prohibited by this Section.

B. For purposes of this Section:

(1) "Fetal body part" means a cell, tissue, organ, or other part of an unborn child who is aborted by an induced abortion.

(2) "Induced abortion" means the act of using or prescribing any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance, device, or means with the intent to terminate the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman with knowledge that the termination by those means will, with reasonable likelihood, cause the death of the unborn child. Such use, prescription, or means is not an abortion if undertaken with the intent to do any of the following:

(a) Save the life or preserve the health of the unborn child.

(b) Remove an unborn child who died of natural causes.

(c) Remove an ectopic pregnancy.

(3) "Miscarriage or stillbirth" means the spontaneous or accidental death of an unborn child, whether the death occurred in the womb or in the process of birth. Death of the unborn child is indicated by the lack of signs of breathing or any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles.

(4) "Receive" includes acquiring any fetal organ or fetal body part, or the rights to any fetal organ or fetal body part, through an act of donation or sale via any transaction prohibited by this Section.

(5) "Unborn child" means any individual of the human species from fertilization and implantation until birth.

C. After an induced abortion has been completed, no person shall intentionally cut, resection, excise, harvest, or remove any body part, organ, or tissue of the aborted unborn child for any purpose prohibited by this Section, or for sale, commerce, transport, research, or profit.

D.(1) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to prohibit any transaction related to the final disposition of the bodily remains of the aborted human being in accordance with state law, or to prohibit any conduct permitted under state law that is undertaken with any of the following purposes:

(a) The purpose of providing knowledge solely to the mother, such as for pathological or diagnostic purposes.

(b) The purpose of providing knowledge solely to law enforcement officers, such as the case of an autopsy following a feticide.

(2) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to prohibit the donation of bodily remains from a human embryo or fetus whose death was caused by a natural miscarriage or stillbirth, in accordance with the guidelines and prohibitions provided in applicable state and federal law.

(3) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to affect existing federal or state law regarding the practice of abortion, or to create or recognize a right to abortion.

E. Any person who violates this Section shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment at hard labor for not less than ten nor more than fifty years, at least ten years of which shall be served without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence, and may, in addition, be required to pay a fine of not more than fifty thousand dollars.

F.(1) The Fetal Organ Whistleblower Account, hereinafter referred to as "the account", is hereby created in the state treasury.

(2) The account shall be composed of any monies derived from appropriations by the legislature and any gift, grant, devise, donation, or bequest of monies or properties of any nature or description.

(3) An award of one thousand dollars shall be paid out of the account to any person who provides evidence that results in the arrest and indictment of any other person for a violation of this Section. Eligibility for an award pursuant to this Subsection shall be determined by the district attorney or the attorney general, as appropriate.

(4) All monies deposited in the account shall be used solely to pay awards to persons as provided by Paragraph (3) of this Subsection and shall be paid by the state treasurer upon written order signed by the district attorney or the attorney general, as appropriate, except that monies deposited in the account may be used to pay reasonable costs of administering the account.

(5) The name and other identifying information of any person who is paid an award pursuant to this Subsection shall remain confidential.

Acts 2016, No. 196, §1; Acts 2017, No. 243, §1, eff. June 14, 2017; Acts 2018, No. 645, §1, eff. June 1, 2018.