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Fast Facts
Biased Counseling & Mandatory Delays
What are biased counseling and mandatory delay laws, and how do they endanger women's health? |
Biased counseling and mandatory delay laws prohibit women from receiving abortion care until they are subjected to a state-mandated lecture and/or materials followed by a delay of usually at least 24 hours. A woman considering abortion, like any patient, should receive full and unbiased information from her doctor about her medical options. However, these laws not only represent unnecessary government intrusion into private decisions and the doctor-patient relationship, they often suggest that women be provided with medically inaccurate information, such as the disproven claim that abortion causes breast cancer. Mandatory delays create additional burdens for women, especially women in rural areas who have to travel for many hours to reach a health care provider, and for low-income women who must take additional time off work. Mandatory delay laws endanger women’s health by impeding earlier, and therefore safer, abortion care. |
CURRENT STATE LAWS31 states have laws that subject women seeking abortions to biased counseling requirements and/or mandatory delays: AL, AK, AR, DE, FL, GA, ID, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, ND, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WV, WI.
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7 of these laws have been found fully or partially unconstitutional by courts: DE, KY, MA, MI, MT, SD, TN. |
2007 STATE LEGISLATION18 states considered 40 measures related to requiring biased counseling and/or mandatory delays: FL, IN, KY, MA, MO, NH, NJ, NY, NC, ND, OK, OR, RI, SC, TX, VA, WV, WY. |
2007 NOTABLE CASES
In 2006, a federal appellate court affirmed a lower court's ruling that issued a temporary injunction prohibiting South Dakota from enforcing amendments to its biased counseling and mandatory delay law. A three-judge panel of the circuit court upheld the lower court's decision. However, in 2007, that decision was vacated pending rehearing by the full court. The amendments make existing state-mandated counseling even more inaccurate and coercive. The requirements include that a doctor must tell a woman seeking an abortion that "the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being," that "the pregnant woman has an existing relationship with that unborn human being and that the relationship enjoys protection under the United States Constitution and under the laws of South Dakota," and that "her existing relationship and her existing constitutional rights with regards to that relationship will be terminated."
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| For a map of all states with Biased Counseling & Mandatory Delays - click here. | |
