Relating to informed consent for medication abortions, and providing penalties

This bill relates to informed consent for medication abortions. A medication abortion is defined in the bill as an abortion induced by an abortion-inducing drug, defined as a drug, medicine, mixture, or preparation, when it is prescribed or administered with the intent to terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant. An abortion-inducing drug includes mifepristone and misoprostol. The bill requires a private office, freestanding outpatient surgical facility, hospital, or other facility in which medication abortions are performed to conspicuously post a sign in a location as described in the bill relating to the effectiveness and possibility of avoiding, ceasing, or even reversing the effects of a medication abortion. The bill requires that, except in the case of a medical emergency, in addition to compliance with the abortion prerequisites of Code chapter 146A, a physician shall not perform or attempt to perform a medication abortion unless the physician who will perform the medication abortion, the referring physician, or an agent of either physician obtains written certification from the pregnant woman. The written certification shall provide that the woman has been informed, by telephone or in person, prior to the medication abortion, of all of the risks commonly associated with a medication abortion, that it may be possible to reverse the intended effects of a medication abortion if the woman changes her mind but that time is of the essence, and that information on and assistance with reversing the effects of a medication abortion is available on the department of public health’s (DPH) internet site. Following the dispensing of an abortion-inducing drug, the attending physician or an agent of the attending physician shall provide written medical discharge instructions to the woman which must include the statement specified in the bill. The bill requires DPH to publish and to make available on DPH’s internet site, materials designed to inform a woman of the possibility of reversing the effects of a medication abortion if the woman changes her mind, and information on and assistance with the resources that may be available to help reverse the effects of a medication abortion. Failure of a physician to comply with the bill is grounds for licensee discipline under Code chapter 148.