§ 3208 — Printed information

Pennsylvania § 3208

• Jurisdiction: Pennsylvania
• Title 18: CRIMES AND OFFENSES
• Part: PART II
• Ch. 32: ABORTION

Text

(a) General rule.--The department shall cause to be published in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, within 60 days after this chapter becomes law, and shall update on an annual basis, the following easily comprehensible printed materials:

(1) Geographically indexed materials designed to inform the woman of public and private agencies and services available to assist a woman through pregnancy, upon childbirth and while the child is dependent, including adoption agencies, which shall include a comprehensive list of the agencies available, a description of the services they offer and a description of the manner, including telephone numbers, in which they might be contacted, or, at the option of the department, printed materials including a toll-free, 24-hour a day telephone number which may be called to obtain, orally, such a list and description of agencies in the locality of the caller and of the services they offer. The materials shall provide information on the availability of medical assistance benefits for prenatal care, childbirth and neonatal care, and state that it is unlawful for any individual to coerce a woman to undergo abortion, that any physician who performs an abortion upon a woman without obtaining her informed consent or without according her a private medical consultation may be liable to her for damages in a civil action at law, that the father of a child is liable to assist in the support of that child, even in instances where the father has offered to pay for an abortion and that the law permits adoptive parents to pay costs of prenatal care, childbirth and neonatal care.

(2) Materials designed to inform the woman of the probable anatomical and physiological characteristics of the unborn child at two-week gestational increments from fertilization to full term, including pictures representing the development of unborn children at two-week gestational increments, and any relevant information on the possibility of the unborn child's survival; provided that any such pictures or drawings must contain the dimensions of the fetus and must be realistic and appropriate for the woman's stage of pregnancy. The materials shall be objective, nonjudgmental and designed to convey only accurate scientific information about the unborn child at the various gestational ages. The material shall also contain objective information describing the methods of abortion procedures commonly employed, the medical risks commonly associated with each such procedure, the possible detrimental psychological effects of abortion and the medical risks commonly associated with each such procedure and the medical risks commonly associated with carrying a child to term.

(b) Format.--The materials shall be printed in a typeface large enough to be clearly legible.

(c) Free distribution.--The materials required under this section shall be available at no cost from the department upon request and in appropriate number to any person, facility or hospital.

Legislative History

(Mar. 25, 1988, P.L.262, No.31, eff. 30 days; Nov. 17, 1989, P.L.592, No.64, eff. imd.) 1989 Amendment.Act 64 amended subsec. (a). See sections 7, 8 and 9 of Act 64 in the appendix to this title for special provisions relating to publication of forms and materials, applicability of reporting and distribution requirements and effective date.