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Disclosure Two Ways

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Extract

In the past two decades, courts and scholars have grappled with the appropriateness of pre-abortion disclosures mandated by the state. Statutes requiring physicians to recite a specific script, often detailing potential psychological “risks” of choosing to terminate a pregnancy, have proliferated nationwide over the past decade. Opponents of such laws have sometimes characterized the requirement of a procedurespecific disclosure as unnecessary and unique to the abortion context. In recent years, however, state legislatures supportive of abortion rights have legislated procedure-specific mandatory disclosures in the context of assisted reproduction and other health care procedures with reproductive health impacts.

Type
Symposium
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2015

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References

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In addition to California, the states of Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Texas, Utah, and Virginia require specific notice be given post-mammogram regarding breast density; each state specifies in a script the particular language to be given. See State Legislative Mandates: Mammography & Breast Density (2012), available at <http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/77th2013/Exhibits/Senate/HHS/SHHS1054W.pdf> (last visited March 27, 2015) (detailing state legislative efforts to require disclosure to women with dense breast tissue).+(last+visited+March+27,+2015)+(detailing+state+legislative+efforts+to+require+disclosure+to+women+with+dense+breast+tissue).>Google Scholar
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While a full explication of the crisis pregnancy center disclosure laws is not within the scope of this Article, it is important to note that while the Casey court permitted a State to convey its position on abortion in communications incidental to the disclosure requirement, courts have expressed some discomfort as to whether a disclosure mandate may convey the State's interest in expedient and professional conveyance of abortion care.Google Scholar
Guttmacher Institute, State Policies in Brief, May 1, 2014, available at <http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_MWPA.pdf> (last visited March 27, 2015) (noting that over 30 states have enacted some form of pre-abortion disclosure or counseling requirement).+(last+visited+March+27,+2015)+(noting+that+over+30+states+have+enacted+some+form+of+pre-abortion+disclosure+or+counseling+requirement).>Google Scholar
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