| (a) The 83rd Legislature, in enacting House Bill 2
during its Second Session (2013), confirmed its intent that the provisions
and the applications of the Health and Safety Code relating to the
licensure and operation of abortion facilities were intended to be
separately enforceable, if any of these separate provisions or the
application of those provisions was determined unconstitutional, invalid,
or unenforceable.
(b) Consistent with the intent of the Legislature,
the department intends, that with respect to the application of this
chapter to each woman who seeks or obtains services from a facility
licensed under this chapter, every provision, section, subsection,
sentence, clause, phrase, or word in this chapter and each application
of the provisions of this chapter remain severable from every other
provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, word, or
application of this chapter.
(c) The department further intends that if the application
of any provision of this chapter is determined by a court of competent
jurisdiction to impose an impermissible or undue burden on any pregnant
woman or group of pregnant women, the application of the chapter to
those women will be severed from the remaining applications of the
chapter that do not impose an undue burden, and those remaining applications
of this chapter will remain in force and unaffected, consistent with
the intent of the Legislature.
(d) Accordingly, to the extent that any parts or applications
of this chapter or this section are enjoined, the department may enforce
the parts and applications of this chapter that do not violate the
Constitution or impose an undue burden on women seeking abortions.
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