Summary

This bill requires doctors to provide certain oral and written information to women who would like to have an abortion. The oral information includes: the risks of infection and hemorrhage, the potential danger to a subsequent pregnancy and of infertility, the possibility of increased risk of breast cancer following an induced abortion and the natural protective effect of a completed pregnancy in avoiding breast cancer, and the probable gestational age of the unborn child at the time the abortion is to be performed. The written information includes photographs of fetal development and referrals to adoption agencies and crisis pregnancy centers.

Currently, women may receive this already mandatory oral information from a physician via voice recording, and have the right either to view the state-published written materials online, or to refuse them entirely. This bill would remove all those options. Women would be required to speak to a physician in person, either in the office or by telephone, and also would be required to receive printed copies of the written materials.

This is one of several anti-choice bills by Rep. Corte over the past several years, discouraging the practice of abortion in Texas and restricting women's access to professional abortion care.