H.B. 362

1

INFORMED CONSENT AMENDMENTS
2 1997 GENERAL SESSION
3 STATE OF UTAH
4 Sponsor: Robert H. M. Killpack
5 AN ACT RELATING TO ABORTION; PROVIDING THAT INFORMED CONSENT
6 MATERIALS CONVEY UTAH'S PREFERENCE FOR CHILDBIRTH OVER ABORTION;
7 PROVIDING THAT ADOPTION BE PRESENTED AS A POSITIVE CHOICE; LIMITING
8 REQUIREMENTS ON GESTATIONAL DESCRIPTIONS; AND PROVIDING AN
9 EFFECTIVE DATE.
10 This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
11 AMENDS:
12 76-7-305.5, as last amended by Chapter 5, Laws of Utah 1996, Second Special Session
13 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
14 Section 1. Section 76-7-305.5 is amended to read:
15 76-7-305.5. Requirements for printed materials and informational video -- Annual
16 report of Department of Health.
17 (1) In order to insure that a woman's consent to an abortion is truly informed consent, the
18 Department of Health shall publish printed materials and an informational video in accordance
19 with the requirements of this section. The department and each local health department shall make
20 those materials and a viewing of the video available at no cost to any person. The printed material
21 and the informational video shall be comprehensible and contain all of the following:
22 (a) geographically indexed materials informing the woman of public and private services
23 and agencies available to assist her, financially and otherwise, through pregnancy, at childbirth,
24 and while the child is dependent, including services and supports available under Section
25 62A-9-138. Those materials shall contain a description of available adoption services, including
26 a comprehensive list of the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of public and private
27 agencies and private attorneys whose practice includes adoption, and explanations of possible

1 available financial aid during the adoption process. The information regarding adoption services
2 shall include the fact that private adoption is legal, and that the law permits adoptive parents to pay
3 the costs of prenatal care, childbirth, and neonatal care. The printed information and video shall
4 present adoption as a positive choice and alternative to abortion. The department may, at its
5 option, include printed materials that describe the availability of a toll-free 24-hour telephone
6 number that may be called in order to obtain, orally, the list and description of services, agencies,
7 and adoption attorneys in the locality of the caller;
8 (b) descriptions of the probable anatomical and physiological characteristics of the unborn
9 child at two-week gestational increments from fertilization [to full term] through 14 weeks
10 gestational age, accompanied by pictures representing the development of an unborn child at those
11 gestational increments. The descriptions shall include information about brain and heart function
12 and the presence of external members and internal organs during the applicable stages of
13 development. Any pictures used shall contain the dimensions of the fetus and shall be realistic and
14 appropriate for that woman's stage of pregnancy. The materials shall be objective[,
15 nonjudgmental,] and designed to convey only accurate scientific information about an unborn child
16 at the various gestational ages;
17 (c) [objective] truthful, nonmisleading descriptions of abortion procedures used in current
18 medical practice at the various stages of growth of the unborn child, the medical risks commonly
19 associated with each procedure, including those related to subsequent childbearing, the
20 consequences of each procedure to the fetus, the possible detrimental psychological effects of
21 abortion, and the medical risks associated with carrying a child to term;
22 (d) any relevant information on the possibility of an unborn child's survival at the
23 two-week gestational increments described in Subsection (b);
24 (e) information on the availability of medical assistance benefits for prenatal care,
25 childbirth, and neonatal care;
26 (f) a statement conveying that it is unlawful for any person to coerce a woman to undergo
27 an abortion;
28 (g) a statement conveying that any physician who performs an abortion without obtaining
29 the woman's informed consent or without according her a private medical consultation in
30 accordance with the requirements of this section, may be liable to her for damages in a civil action
31 at law; [and]

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1 (h) a statement conveying that the state of Utah prefers childbirth over abortion; and
2 [(h)] (i) information regarding the legal responsibility of the father to assist in child
3 support, even in instances where he has agreed to pay for an abortion, including a description of
4 the services available through the Office of Recovery Services, within the Department of Human
5 Services, to establish and collect that support.
6 (2) The material described in Subsection (1) shall be printed in a typeface large enough
7 to be clearly legible.
8 (3) Every facility in which abortions are performed shall immediately provide the printed
9 informed consent materials and a viewing of or a copy of the informational video described in
10 Subsection (1) to any patient or potential patient prior to the performance of an abortion, unless
11 the patient's attending or referring physician certifies in writing that he reasonably believes that
12 provision of the materials or video to that patient would result in a severely adverse effect on her
13 physical or mental health.
14 (4) The Department of Health shall produce a standardized videotape that may be used
15 statewide, containing all of the information described in Subsection (1), in accordance with the
16 requirements of that section. In preparing the video, the department may summarize and make
17 reference to the printed comprehensive list of geographically indexed names and services
18 described in Subsection (1)(a). The videotape shall, in addition to the information described in
19 Subsection (1), show an ultrasound of the heart beat of an unborn child at three weeks gestational
20 age, at six to eight weeks gestational age, and each month thereafter, until viability. That
21 information shall be presented in [an objective, unbiased] a manner designed to convey only
22 accurate scientific information.
23 (5) The Department of Health and local health departments shall provide ultrasounds in
24 accordance with the provisions of Subsection 76-7-305(1)(b), at no expense to the pregnant
25 woman.
26 (6) The Department of Health shall compile and report the following information annually,
27 preserving physician and patient anonymity:
28 (a) the total amount of informed consent material described in Subsection (1) that was
29 distributed;
30 (b) the number of women who obtained abortions in this state without receiving those
31 materials;

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1 (c) the number of statements signed by attending physicians certifying to his opinion
2 regarding adverse effects on the patient under Subsection (3); and
3 (d) any other information pertaining to protecting the informed consent of women seeking
4 abortions.
5 (7) The Department of Health shall annually report to the Human Services Interim
6 Committee regarding the information described in Subsection (6), and provide a copy of the
7 printed materials and the videotape produced in accordance with this section.
8 Section 2. Effective date.
9 This act takes effect on November 1, 1997.




Legislative Review Note
as of 2-4-97 9:23 AM

This bill raises the following constitutional or statutory concerns:


In any abortion legislation, constitutional rights of privacy and liberty are at issue. However,
the language in this bill, contained in Subsections 76-7-305.5 (1)(c) and (1)(h) comes directly
from the United States Supreme Court case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 112 S. Ct.
2791(1992).

Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel

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