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Alaska Statutes.

Title 18. Health, Safety, and Housing

Chapter 16. Regulation of Abortions

Section 10. Abortions.

AS 18.16.010. Abortions.

(a) An abortion may not be performed in this state unless

(1) the abortion is performed by a physician licensed by the State Medical Board under AS 08.64.200 ;

(2) the abortion is performed in a hospital or other facility approved for the purpose by the Department of Health and Social Services or a hospital operated by the federal government or an agency of the federal government;

(3) before an abortion is knowingly performed or induced on an unmarried, unemancipated woman under 17 years of age, consent has been given as required under AS 18.16.020 or a court has authorized the minor to consent to the abortion under AS 18.16.030 and the minor consents; for purposes of enforcing this paragraph, there is a rebuttable presumption that a woman who is unmarried and under 17 years of age is unemancipated;

(4) the woman is domiciled or physically present in the state for 30 days before the abortion; and

(5) the applicable requirements of AS 18.16.060 have been satisfied.

(b) Nothing in this section requires a hospital or person to participate in an abortion, nor is a hospital or person liable for refusing to participate in an abortion under this section.

(c) A person who knowingly violates a provision of this section, upon conviction, is punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by imprisonment for not more than five years, or by both.

(d) [Repealed, Sec. 6 ch 14 SLA 1997].

(e) A person who performs or induces an abortion in violation of(a)(3) of this section is civilly liable to the pregnant minor and the minor's parents, guardian, or custodian for compensatory and punitive damages.

(f) It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution or claim for a violation of (a)(3) of this section that the pregnant minor provided the person who performed or induced the abortion with false, misleading, or incorrect information about the minor's age, marital status, or emancipation, and the person who performed or induced the abortion did not otherwise have reasonable cause to believe that the pregnant minor was under 17 years of age, unmarried, or unemancipated.

(g) It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution or claim for violation of (a)(3) of this section that compliance with the requirements of (a)(3) of this section was not possible because an immediate threat of serious risk to the life or physical health of the pregnant minor from the continuation of the pregnancy created a medical emergency necessitating the immediate performance or inducement of an abortion. In this subsection, "medical emergency" means a condition that, on the basis of the physician's or surgeon's good faith clinical judgment, so complicates the medical condition of a pregnant minor that

(1) an immediate abortion of the minor's pregnancy is necessary to avert the minor's death; or

(2) a delay in providing an abortion will create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant minor.

(h) A physician or other health care provider is liable for failure to obtain the informed consent of a person as required under AS 18.16.060 if the claimant establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that the provider has failed to inform the person of the common risks and reasonable alternatives to the proposed abortion procedure and that, but for that failure, the person would not have consented to the abortion procedure.

(i) It is a defense to any action for the alleged failure to obtain the informed consent of a person under (h) of this section that

(1) the risk not disclosed is too commonly known or is too remote to require disclosure; or

(2) the person who is the subject of the alleged failure to obtain the informed consent stated to the physician or other health care provider that the person would or would not undergo the abortion procedure regardless of the risk involved or that the person did not want to be informed of the matters to which the person would be entitled to be informed.

(j) In an action under (h) of this section, there is a rebuttable presumption that an abortion was performed with the pregnant woman's informed consent if the person who performed the abortion submits into evidence a copy of the woman's written certification required under AS 18.16.060(b).

Note to HTML Version:

This version of the Alaska Statutes is current through December, 2004. The Alaska Statutes were automatically converted to HTML from a plain text format. Every effort has been made to ensure their accuracy, but this can not be guaranteed. If it is critical that the precise terms of the Alaska Statutes be known, it is recommended that more formal sources be consulted. For statutes adopted after the effective date of these statutes, see, Alaska State Legislature If any errors are found, please e-mail Touch N' Go systems at E-mail. We hope you find this information useful.

Last modified 9/3/2005