Texas Bill to Remove ‘Risk of Breast Cancer’ From Informed Consent Requirements and Require Medically Accurate Information (HB 708)

HB 708 attempts to remove some of the more damaging provisions of the Woman’s Right to Know Act, specifically the medically inaccurate information that doctors are required to provide to patients.

The bill would have removed from the Texas Woman’s Right to Know Act (passed in 2003 (SB 835) and amended in 2011 (HB 15)) the provision which requires an abortion provider to inform a woman seeking abortion that induced abortions increase the risk of breast cancer.

The claim that abortion causes an increase in risk of breast cancer is not supported by medical research. In fact, a new study confirms that there is no causative link between abortion and breast cancer.

The bill also replaces the term “unborn child” with “fetus” throughout the Woman’s Right to Know Act.

Current law requires state-created printed materials to be provided to the woman. The information must contain a list of agencies that offer free sonograms to woman, but those agencies must not provide abortions, abortion-related services, or make referrals to abortion providers. HB 708 would remove that requirement and replace it with a requirement that the information contain a list of agencies that “are available to provide information and services related to family planning.”

In addition, the bill would require that the printed state materials be “verified and supported by research that is recognized as medically accurate, objective, and complete by the National Institutes of Health and affiliated organizations.”

STATUS

Similar to HB 2945 which failed to pass in 2013.

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