| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: |
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| | Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §1597-B is enacted to read: |
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| §1597-B.__Partial-birth abortions prohibited |
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| | 1.__Definitions.__As used in this section, unless the context | otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following | meanings. |
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| A.__"Abortion" means the intentional interruption of a | pregnancy by the application of external agents, whether | chemical or physical, or by the ingestion of chemical agents | with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to | remove a dead fetus. |
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| B.__"Partial-birth abortion" means an abortion in which the | physician performing the abortion partially vaginally | delivers a living fetus before killing the fetus and | completing the delivery. |
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| C.__"Partially vaginally delivers a living fetus before | killing the fetus" means deliberately and intentionally | delivering into the vagina a living fetus, or a substantial | portion of a living fetus, for the purpose of performing a | procedure the physician knows will kill the fetus, and | killing the fetus. |
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| | 2.__Partial-birth abortions prohibited; exception.__A | physician may not knowingly perform a partial-birth abortion and | thereby kill a human fetus.__This prohibition does not apply to a | partial-birth abortion that is necessary to save the life of a | mother whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, illness | or injury. |
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| | 3.__Criminal liability.__A physician who violates this | section: |
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| A.__Commits a Class D crime; and |
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| B.__Is subject to damages awarded in a civil action under | subsection 4. |
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| | 4.__Civil action.__The father, if married to the mother at the | time she receives the partial-birth abortion procedure, and the | maternal grandparents of the fetus, if the mother has not | attained 18 years of age at the time of the abortion,__may in a | civil action obtain appropriate relief unless the pregnancy | resulted from the plaintiff's criminal conduct or the plaintiff | consented to the abortion.__Appropriate relief must include: |
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