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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 7070
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 3577
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH
Introduced by:
(PH)
AN ACT CONCERNING DE CEPTIVE ADVERTISING PRACTICE S OF
LIMITED SERVICES PREGNANCY CENTERS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2019) As used in this section and 1
sections 2 and 3 of this act, the following terms shall have the 2
following meanings: 3
(1) "Abortion" means the termination of a pregnancy for purposes 4
other than producing a live birth. "Abortion" includes, but is not 5
limited to, a termination of a pregnancy using pharmacological agents; 6
(2) "Client" means an individual who is inquiring about or seeking 7
services at a pregnancy services center; 8
(3) "Clinical laboratory services" means the microbiological, 9
serological, chemical, hematological, biophysical, cytological, or 10
pathological examination of materials derived from the human body 11
for the purpose of obtaining information for the diagnosis, prevention, 12
or treatment of disease or the assessment of a health condition; 13
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(4) "Emergency contraception" means one or more prescription 14
drugs (A) used separately or in combination for the purpose of 15
preventing pregnancy, (B) administered to or self-administered by a 16
patient within a medically recommended amount of time after sexual 17
intercourse, (C) dispensed for such purpose in accordance with 18
professional standards of practice, and (D) determined by the United 19
States Food and Drug Administration to be safe for such purpose; 20
(5) "Health information" means any oral or written information in 21
any form or medium that relates to health insurance or the past, 22
present or future physical or mental health or condition of a client; 23
(6) "Licensed health care provider" means a person licensed under 24
the provisions of federal or state law to provide health care or other 25
medical services; 26
(7) "Limited services pregnancy center" means a pregnancy services 27
center that does not provide referrals to clients for abortions or 28
emergency contraception; 29
(8) "Pregnancy-related service" means any medical or health 30
counseling service related to pregnancy or pregnancy prevention, 31
including, but not limited to, contraception and contraceptive 32
counseling, pregnancy testing, pregnancy diagnosis, pregnancy 33
options counseling, obstetric ultrasound, obstetric sonogram and 34
prenatal care; 35
(9) "Pregnancy services center" means a facility, including a mobile 36
facility, the primary purpose of which is to provide services to clients 37
who are or may be pregnant and that either (A) offers obstetric 38
ultrasounds, obstetric sonograms, pregnancy testing or diagnosis, or 39
prenatal care to pregnant clients, or (B) has the appearance of a 40
medical facility by virtue of having two or more of the following 41
factors present: (i) Staff or volunteers who wear medical attire and 42
uniforms; (ii) one or more examination tables; (iii) a private or 43
semi-private room or area containing medical supplies or medical 44
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instruments; (iv) staff or volunteers who collect health information 45
from clients; or (v) the facility is located on the same premises as a 46
licensed health care facility or licensed health care provider or shares 47
facility space with a licensed health care provider; 48
(10) "Premises" means land and improvements or appurtenances or 49
any part thereof; and 50
(11) "Prenatal care" means services consisting of a physical 51
examination, pelvic examination or clinical laboratory services 52
provided to a client during pregnancy. 53
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2019) No limited services pregnancy 54
center shall make or disseminate or cause to be made or disseminated 55
in any newspaper or other publication, through any advertising 56
device, or in any other manner, including, but not limited to, through 57
use of the Internet, any statement concerning any pregnancy-related 58
service or the provision of any pregnancy-related service (1) that is 59
false, misleading or deceptive or that a limited services pregnancy 60
center reasonably should know to be false, misleading or deceptive, or 61
(2) with the intent not to perform such pregnancy-related service as 62
advertised. 63
Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2019) (a) The Attorney General may 64
apply to any court of competent jurisdiction for injunctive relief to 65
compel compliance with the provisions of section 2 of this act and 66
correct the effects of the false, misleading, or deceptive advertising. 67
Any injunctive relief ordered by the court under this section may 68
require a limited services pregnancy center to take whatever remedial 69
steps the court deems necessary to correct the effects of the false, 70
misleading or deceptive advertising and to prevent further harm from 71
occurring. Such steps may include requiring the limited service 72
pregnancy center to: 73
(1) Pay for and disseminate appropriate corrective advertising in the 74
same form and using the same advertising device as used in the false, 75
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misleading, or deceptive advertising; 76
(2) Post a remedial notice that corrects the effects of the false, 77
misleading or deceptive advertising for clients entering the facility that 78
may have seen the original false, mis leading or deceptive 79
advertisements, but not any subsequent court-ordered corrective 80
advertisements required under subdivision (1) of this subsection; or 81
(3) Provide such other relief as the court deems necessary to remedy 82
the adverse effects of the false, misleading, or deceptive advertising on 83
any clients seeking pregnancy-related services. 84
(b) Upon a finding by the court that a limited services pregnancy 85
center has violated any provision of section 2 of this act, the state shall 86
be entitled to recover (1) civil penalties of not less than fifty dollars and 87
not more than five hundred dollars per violation, and (2) reasonable 88
attorney's fees and costs. 89
(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed as a limitation upon 90
the power or authority of the state or any political subdivision thereof 91
to seek any administrative, legal or equitable relief permitted by law. 92
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2019 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2019 New section
Sec. 3 July 1, 2019 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To prohibit deceptive advertising practices by limited services
pregnancy centers.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]