Right-to-Know Act

OB/GYN News, Nov 15, 2004 by Mary Ellen Schneider

A Florida appeals court recently struck down the state's "Women's Right-to-Know Act," which required physicians to tell women seeking abortions about the gestational age of the fetus and provide information on alternatives to abortion. The law, which has been enjoined since it was enacted in 1997, was deemed unconstitutional by the Fourth District Court of Appeals in Florida.

The law was designed to bolster the state's general informed consent law. The additional information is needed for women to make informed decisions, said Bob Brady, who is the president of Emerald Coast Right to Life, based in Fort Walton Beach. But the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represented the plaintiffs in the case, said the law restricted what physicians could tell their patients. "Biased counseling laws are part of an ongoing campaign by the anti-choice movement to mislead women when they are making a personal decision about their pregnancies," said Bebe Anderson, staff attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights and co-counsel in the lawsuit. "Rather than inform women, these laws misinform them and often in an insulting and harmful way."