Written Abortion Counseling Information Required By State Laws Often Misleading Or False, Guttmacher Report Says

Written information created in compliance with some state abortion counseling laws often is misleading and sometimes is medically inaccurate, according to a Guttmacher Institute report released on Thursday, the AP/Biloxi Sun-Herald reports (Zeman, AP/Biloxi Sun-Herald, 10/26). The report -- written by Chinue Turner Richardson and Elizabeth Nash and published in the fall issue of the Guttmacher Policy Review -- found that 22 state health departments have created abortion counseling information, usually covering legally required topics. Most of the materials on abortion concur with current scientific findings, the report said. However, according to a Guttmacher release, inaccuracies often were found in 20 states that provide information on referrals to so-called "crisis pregnancy centers"; seven states that provide information on potential psychological effects of having an abortion; five states that provide "[f]alse or misleading" information on a fetus' ability to feel pain; and five states that require women to be told about a "medically inaccurate link" between abortion and breast cancer. The report also found that 13 of the 22 states provide "referral information for contraceptive services in their written counseling materials," Guttmacher Institute President and CEO Sharon Camp said (Guttmacher release, 10/26). The report said that requirements to tell women seeking abortions that the fetus can feel pain are "arguably the most egregious example of medical inaccuracy in state abortion counseling materials," adding that crisis pregnancy centers "often provide false and misleading information to pregnant women about the health effects of abortion in hopes of dissuading them from seeking an abortion" (AP/Biloxi Sun-Herald, 10/26). Camp said, "The flawed abortion counseling materials produced by many states are the unfortunate, but predictable, outcome of politicians inserting themselves into what should be a private conversation between a woman and her doctor" (Guttmacher release, 10/26).

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