§ 63-1-738.3. Print and online information - Requirements.

A.  Within one hundred twenty (120) days of the effective date of this act, the State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision shall cause to be published, in English and in Spanish, and shall update on an annual basis, the following printed materials in such a way as to ensure that the information is easily comprehensible:

1.a.              geographically indexed materials designed to inform the woman of public and private agencies, including adoption agencies and services that are available to assist a woman through pregnancy, upon childbirth, and while the child is dependent, including:

(1)              a comprehensive list of the agencies available,

(2)              a description of the services they offer, including which agencies offer, at no cost to the pregnant woman, ultrasound imaging that enables a pregnant woman to view the unborn child or heart tone monitoring that enables the pregnant woman to listen to the heartbeat of the unborn child, and

(3)              a description of the manner, including telephone numbers, in which they might be contacted, or

b.              at the option of the Board a toll-free, twenty-four-hour-a-day telephone number which may be called to obtain, in a mechanical, automated, or auditory format, a list and description of agencies in the locality of the caller and of the services they offer; and

2.a.materials designed to inform the woman of the probable anatomical and physiological characteristics of the unborn child at two-week gestational increments from the time when a woman can be known to be pregnant to full term, including:

(1)any relevant information on the possibility of the survival of the unborn child, and

(2)pictures or drawings representing the development of unborn children at two-week gestational increments, provided that the pictures or drawings shall describe the dimensions of the unborn child and shall be realistic and appropriate for the stage of pregnancy depicted,

b.the materials shall be objective, nonjudgmental, and designed to convey only accurate scientific information about the unborn child at the various gestational ages, and

c.the material shall also contain objective information describing:

(1)the methods of abortion procedures commonly employed,

(2)the medical risks commonly associated with each of those procedures,

(3)the possible detrimental psychological effects of abortion and of carrying a child to term, and

(4)the medical risks commonly associated with carrying a child to term.

B.  1.  The materials referred to in subsection A of this section shall be printed in a typeface large enough to be clearly legible.

2.  The materials required under this section shall be available at no cost from the State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision and shall be distributed upon request in appropriate numbers to any person, facility, or hospital.

C.  1.  The Board shall provide on its stable Internet web site the information described under subsection A of this section.

2.  The web site provided for in this subsection shall be maintained at a minimum resolution of 72 PPI.

Added by Laws 2005, c. 200, § 8, emerg. eff. May 20, 2005.  Amended by Laws 2006, c. 185, § 4, eff. Nov. 1, 2006.