CPCs required to provide accurate and unbiased information
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – State Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood, recently filed House Bill 2266, which she refers to as the “Stop Lying to Women Act”. House Bill 2266 would require medical organizations, including crisis-pregnancy centers, to provide patients with medically accurate and unbiased information concerning pregnancy-related service options, or risk losing their state funding. These services include but are not limited to family planning, abortion care, prenatal care, labor and delivery and postpartum care.
“When a woman visits a medical professional as it relates to her reproductive health, she trusts that she will be provided with accurate information,” said Lavender. “Under the ‘Stop Lying to Women Act’, we can ensure that women are protected from individuals who allow their own personal bias and beliefs to interfere with their ability to provide helpful and factual recommendations.”
Under House Bill 2266, leading expert medical organizations such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the National Institute for Health, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention are expected to serve as resources to crisis-pregnancy organizations when providing patients with information. This measure is identical to House Bill 236, which Rep. Lavender filed during the 2017 legislative session.
“We have seen on multiple occasions that these decisions are literally a matter of life and death,” Lavender said. “Using state funds for the purpose of advancing individual agendas and depriving women of the opportunity to make informed decisions as it relates to their own health is unacceptable, period.”
“Women are literally being lied to, and this measure is one step we can take to alleviate deception and strengthen trust between patients and their medical professionals. When we trust women, they make good decisions for themselves and their families.”
For more information regarding House Bill 2266, please contact Rep. Lavender’s office at Deb.Lavender@house.mo.gov or 573-751-4069.
