This bill adds new sections to chapter 9.02 RCW, reenacts and amends RCW 9.02.170, and amends RCW 9.02.120. It creates new criminal and civil liability related to chemical abortions and imposes new procedural requirements for courts, providers, and the Department of Health. As amended, performing an abortion (unless authorized under RCW 9.02.110, text not provided here) is made a class C felony punishable under chapter 9A.20 RCW. The bill also creates civil causes of action for violations of a new section 4, authorizes the attorney general or appropriate district attorneys to investigate and bring civil suits after giving 30 days’ notice, and specifies civil penalties and statutory damages. The bill establishes procedural changes and penalties: courts in civil, criminal, or administrative proceedings must determine whether a patient’s anonymity should be preserved and may issue orders (sealing records, excluding people from hearings) with written findings explaining necessity and narrow tailoring; plaintiffs who are not public officials must sue under a pseudonym if the patient has not consented, but the identity of the plaintiff or witnesses cannot be concealed from the defendant or the defendant’s attorneys. Civil penalties may be assessed up to $5,000 per day for violations of section 4 and up to $10,000 per violation for knowingly failing to obtain reasonable informed consent, with some penalties payable to the state to fund pregnancy resource centers. Any person who violates section 4 may also be fined $10,000 or charged with a class B misdemeanor; the patient who undergoes or attempts the abortion may not be subject to criminal or civil penalty. Private civil suits may seek statutory damages equal to three times the cost of the chemical abortion. The bill creates new provider and reporting requirements specific to chemical abortions: written information must accompany any chemical abortion instructions that includes a prescribed statement about potential financial liability of manufacturers, distributors, prescribers, and providers and the patient’s right to inform treating providers without penalty. Patients must certify in writing before the procedure that this information was provided and they had an opportunity to review it; providers or their agents must receive and retain that certification before performing the chemical abortion. The Department of Health must prepare two de-identified reporting forms within 90 days, providers must electronically report each diagnosed or treated abortion complication to DOH no later than the end of the third business day after diagnosis or treatment, DOH must publish an annual public report by July 1 covering the prior calendar year, and a $500 civil penalty may be imposed for knowingly failing to complete required reports. The act is titled the "abortion pill provider liability education (APPLE) act" and includes a severability clause. Important context is missing: the full text of new section 4 is incomplete in the provided facts, the effective date of the act is not given, and the content of RCW 9.02.110 (the authorization exception) is not included, so specific obligations, exceptions, and scope tied to section 4 cannot be fully determined from these excerpts.

If enacted, people who provide or prescribe chemical abortions will face new paperwork, reporting, and legal risks: they must give patients a specific written statement, get a signed patient certification before the procedure and keep a copy, and electronically report any diagnosed or treated complication to the Department of Health within three business days. The Department of Health must create the two required forms within 90 days and publish an annual, de-identified report, and providers who knowingly fail to file can be fined $500 per violation. Separate and larger civil and criminal exposures are created by amendments making performance of an abortion a class C felony unless an exception applies, allowing private and state lawsuits for violations of the bill’s section 4 with possible fines up to $10,000 per violation, civil penalties up to $5,000 per day or $10,000 for certain informed-consent failures, statutory damages equal to three times the cost of the chemical abortion, and the possibility of a $10,000 fine or class B misdemeanor for violating section 4; the attorney general or local prosecutors must give at least 30 days for providers to comply before suing, and some civil penalties would be paid to the state to fund pregnancy resource centers that don’t provide or refer for abortions. The people most affected are abortion pill providers (including unlicensed individuals), physicians, physician assistants, advanced practice nurses and other treating providers, who will face increased compliance work, faster reporting timelines, added documentation retention, and significant new fines and criminal risks; courts will have new duties to protect patient anonymity in public records and hearings while still ensuring defendants and their lawyers can see identities; Department of Health will need resources to design forms and publish reports. Important details are missing from the provided text—most notably the full text of new section 4, the content of the cited authorization exception (RCW 9.02.110), and the act’s effective date—so the exact scope of duties, exceptions, and timing cannot be fully determined from these excerpts.