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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 7070
January Session, 2019
AN ACT CONCERNING DE CEPTIVE ADVERTISING PRACTICES 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: 2
(1) "Abortion" means the termination of a pregnancy for purposes 3
other than producing a live birth. "Abortion" includes, but is not 4
limited to, a termination of a pregnancy using pharmacological agents; 5
(2) "Client" means an individual who is inquiring about or seeking 6
services at a pregnancy services center; 7
(3) "Clinical laboratory services" means the microbiological, 8
serological, chemical, hematological, biophysical, cytological or 9
pathological examination of materials derived from the human body 10
for the purpose of obtaining information for the diagnosis, prevention 11
or treatment of disease or the assessment of a health condition; 12
(4) "Emergency contraception" means one or more prescription 13
drugs (A) used separately or in combination for the purpose of 14
preventing pregnancy, (B) administered to or self-administered by a 15
patient within a medically recommended amount of time after sexual 16
intercourse, (C) dispensed for such purpose in accordance with 17 Substitute Bill No. 7070
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professional standards of practice, and (D) determined by the United 18
States Food and Drug Administration to be safe for such purpose; 19
(5) "Health information" means any oral or written information in 20
any form or medium that relates to health insurance or the past, 21
present or future physical or mental health or condition of a client; 22
(6) "Licensed health care provider" means a person licensed under 23
the provisions of federal or state law to provide health care or other 24
medical services; 25
(7) "Limited services pregnancy center" means a pregnancy services 26
center that does not provide referrals to clients for abortions or 27
emergency contraception; 28
(8) "Pregnancy-related service" means any medical or health 29
counseling service related to pregnancy or pregnancy prevention, 30
including, but not limited to, contraception and contraceptive 31
counseling, pregnancy testing, pregnancy diagnosis, pregnancy 32
options counseling, obstetric ultrasound, obstetric sonogram and 33
prenatal care; 34
(9) "Pregnancy services center" means a facility, including a mobile 35
facility, the primary purpose of which is to provide services to clients 36
who are or may be pregnant and that either (A) offers obstetric 37
ultrasounds, obstetric sonograms, pregnancy testing or diagnosis or 38
prenatal care to pregnant clients, or (B) has the appearance of a 39
medical facility by virtue of having two or more of the following 40
factors present: (i) Staff or volunteers who wear medical attire and 41
uniforms; (ii) one or more examination tables; (iii) a private or 42
semiprivate room or area containing medical supplies or medical 43
instruments; (iv) staff or volunteers who collect health information 44
from clients; or (v) the facility is located on the same premises as a 45
licensed health care facility or licensed health care provider or shares 46
facility space with a licensed health care provider; 47
(10) "Premises" means land and improvements or appurtenances or 48 Substitute Bill No. 7070
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any part thereof; and 49
(11) "Prenatal care" means services consisting of a physical 50
examination, pelvic examination or clinical laboratory services 51
provided to a client during pregnancy. 52
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2019) No limited services pregnancy 53
center shall make or disseminate, or cause to be made or disseminated, 54
in any newspaper or other publication, through any advertising 55
device, or in any other manner, including, but not limited to, through 56
use of the Internet, any statement concerning any pregnancy-related 57
service or the provision of any pregnancy-related service (1) that is 58
explicitly or implicitly false, misleading or deceptive or that a limited 59
services pregnancy center reasonably should know to be explicitly or 60
implicitly false, misleading or deceptive, or (2) with the intent not to 61
perform such pregnancy-related service as explicitly or implicitly 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
provided the Attorney General gives written notice to the limited 68
services pregnancy center in accordance with subsection (b) of this 69
section. Any injunctive relief ordered by the court under this section 70
may require a limited services pregnancy center to take whatever 71
remedial steps the court deems necessary to correct the effects of the 72
false, misleading or deceptive advertising and to prevent further harm 73
from occurring. Such steps may include requiring the limited service 74
pregnancy center to: 75
(1) Pay for and disseminate appropriate corrective advertising in the 76
same form and using the same advertising device as used in the false, 77
misleading, or deceptive advertising; 78
(2) Post a remedial notice that corrects the effects of the false, 79 Substitute Bill No. 7070
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misleading or deceptive advertising for clients entering the facility that 80
may have seen the original false, misleading or deceptive 81
advertisements, but have not seen any subsequent court-ordered 82
corrective advertisements required under subdivision (1) of this 83
subsection; or 84
(3) Provide such other relief as the court deems necessary to remedy 85
the adverse effects of the false, misleading or deceptive advertising on 86
any clients seeking pregnancy-related services. 87
(b) Prior to commencing an action pursuant to subsection (a) of this 88
section, the Attorney General shall give written notice to the limited 89
services pregnancy center of the violation of section 2 of this act and 90
allow the limited services pregnancy center to cure such violation not 91
later than ten days after receipt of the written notice. The Attorney 92
General may file an action pursuant to subsection (a) of this section 93
after such ten-day period if the limited services pregnancy center does 94
not respond to the written notice or refuses to cure the violation of 95
section 2 of this act. 96
(c) Upon a finding by the court that a limited services pregnancy 97
center has violated any provision of section 2 of this act, the state shall 98
be entitled to recover (1) civil penalties of not less than fifty dollars and 99
not more than five hundred dollars per violation, and (2) reasonable 100
attorney's fees and costs. 101
(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed as a limitation upon 102
the power or authority of the state or any political subdivision thereof 103
to seek any administrative, legal or equitable relief permitted by law. 104
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 Substitute Bill No. 7070
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Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 1, the phrase "the following terms shall have the following
meanings" was deleted to eliminate redundant language.
PH Joint Favorable Subst.