(a) Within 90 days after July 1, 2003, the commissioner of health shall cause to be published, in English and in each language that is the primary language of two percent or more of the state's population, and shall cause to be available on the state website provided for under section 145.4244 the following printed materials in such a way as to ensure that the information is easily comprehensible:

(1) geographically indexed materials designed to inform the female of public and private agencies and services available to assist a female 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 commissioner of health, printed materials including a toll-free, 24-hours-a-day telephone number that may be called to obtain, orally or by a tape recorded message tailored to a zip code entered by the caller, such a list and description of agencies in the locality of the caller and of the services they offer;

(2) materials designed to inform the female of the probable anatomical and physiological characteristics of the unborn child at two-week gestational increments from the time when a female can be known to be pregnant to full term, including any relevant information on the possibility of the unborn child's survival and pictures or drawings representing the development of unborn children at two-week gestational increments, provided that any such pictures or drawings must contain the dimensions of the fetus and must be realistic and appropriate for the stage of pregnancy depicted. 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 procedure, the possible detrimental psychological effects of abortion, and the medical risks commonly associated with carrying a child to term; and

(3) materials with the following information concerning an unborn child of 20 weeks gestational age and at two weeks gestational increments thereafter in such a way as to ensure that the information is easily comprehensible:

(i) the development of the nervous system of the unborn child;

(ii) fetal responsiveness to adverse stimuli and other indications of capacity to experience organic pain; and

(iii) the impact on fetal organic pain of each of the methods of abortion procedures commonly employed at this stage of pregnancy.

The material under this clause shall be objective, nonjudgmental, and designed to convey only accurate scientific information.

(b) The materials referred to in this section must be printed in a typeface large enough to be clearly legible. The website provided for under section 145.4244 shall be maintained at a minimum resolution of 70 DPI (dots per inch). All pictures appearing on the website shall be a minimum of 200x300 pixels. All letters on the website shall be a minimum of 11-point font. All information and pictures shall be accessible with an industry standard browser, requiring no additional plug-ins. The materials required under this section must be available at no cost from the commissioner of health upon request and in appropriate number to any person, facility, or hospital.

History: 2003 c 14 art 1 s 4