Bill > HB519

This bill, known as the Mississippi Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act, makes it illegal for any person to intentionally perform or attempt to perform a dismemberment abortion, which is defined as the dismemberment of a living unborn child by extracting its body parts one piece at a time using instruments like clamps or forceps, unless it is necessary to prevent a serious health risk to the mother, meaning a condition that necessitates the abortion to avert her death or serious, irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function. The act allows for injunctions to stop such abortions, authorizes civil lawsuits for damages against those who perform them, and establishes criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment, for violations, while also protecting the privacy of women undergoing abortions by allowing courts to seal records and conduct proceedings discreetly, and importantly, it clarifies that this act does not create or recognize a right to abortion or a specific abortion method, and does not hold the woman on whom the abortion is performed, nor non-physician staff acting under a physician's direction, liable.