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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 before they can receive services. 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 women who do not have the resources to take extra time off work or pay for childcare. Mandatory delay laws endanger women’s health by creating unnecessary burdens that can impede 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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6 of these laws have been found fully or partially unconstitutional by courts: DE, KY, MA, MI, MT, TN. |
2008 STATE LEGISLATION13 states considered 48 measures related to requiring biased counseling and/or mandatory delays: CO, FL, IN, KS, KY, MA, MO, NJ, NY, NC, RI, TN, WA. |
2008 NOTABLE CASES
In 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated a preliminary injunction enjoining enforcement of South Dakota's biased counseling and mandatory delay law, and remanded the case to the U.S. District Court for consideration of whether the law is constitutional. A three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals had previously affirmed a lower court's ruling that issued the temporary injunction prohibiting South Dakota from enforcing amendments to the law. These amendments include requirements 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." As of this publication’s printing, the requirements in question are enforceable.
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| For a map of all states with Biased Counseling & Mandatory Delays - click here. | |
