Summary: The Right to Dignified Care Act prohibits [what your state calls an Unregulated Pregnancy Clinic] from asking improper and intrusive questions as a condition of receiving products or services.
[NOTE: This bill applies to states which fund UPCs. The same problem is addressed for other states through the Professional Responsibility in Health Care Act.]
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This Act shall be called the “Right to Dignified Care Act.”
SECTION 2. FINDINGS
The legislature finds that:
1. Unregulated Pregnancy Clinics (UPCs) [or whatever name your state uses], also known as “crisis pregnancy centers,” are facilities that represent themselves as offering unbiased reproductive health care information and services but are primarily intended to prevent clients from seeking or accessing abortions.
2. UPCs commonly ask clients to fill out a form, designed to look like a medical intake form, prior to receiving any products or services. As one UPC explains on its website, “We will give you an intake form similar to what you might fill out at a doctor’s office.”
3. But a UPC is not a doctor’s office. For that reason, it is improper and unreasonably intrusive for UPCs to ask certain questions on an intake form.
4. UPCs primarily seek out or advertise to attract clients who are young and unfamiliar with health care standards, have lower incomes, and are in vulnerable situations, so these clients may be unaware that some questions are only reasonable if asked by a licensed medical provider and others are unreasonable for a medical intake form under any circumstances.
5. UPCs are not required to follow the privacy, confidentiality and records security requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Nevertheless, many UPCs give clients a sense of security by falsely claiming that they are subject to HIPAA or “HIPAA compliant.”
6. There is a strong need for legislation. Every one of the topics listed in Section (3)(B) is actually asked on intake forms at some UPCs.
SECTION 3. RESTRICTIONS ON HEALTH CARE INTAKE FORMS
After section XXX, the following new section XXX shall be inserted:
(A) PROHIBITED INTAKE QUESTIONS
1. A [what your state calls an Unregulated Pregnancy Clinic] shall not make it a condition of service, or make it reasonably appear to be a condition of service, that a client must disclose any of the following information:
(a) A list of the prescription drugs the client takes;
(b) A list of the client’s current or past illnesses;
(c) A list of the client’s medical conditions that are not directly relevant to a determination of pregnancy;
(d) The name or age of the potential baby’s father;
(e) Whether the client is living with a man to whom she is not married;
(f) The client’s age when she first became sexually active;
(g) Whether the client is currently sexually active with one or more than one partner;
(h) Whether the client engages in homosexual relationships; or
(i) For a clinic that does not bill insurance or is an official Medicaid or WIC enrollment site, the client’s income, employer, or eligibility for public assistance.
2. The [Attorney General/Department of Health] may promulgate regulations to clarify which intake questions are overly intrusive and whether a facility is making answers to overly intrusive questions a condition of service, or it reasonably appears to make them a condition of service.
(B) ENFORCEMENT
1. A [whatever your state calls an Unregulated Pregnancy Clinic] shall not qualify for a state grant under any program if the grantee violates this subsection.
2. Any grantee that fails to comply with the requirements of this subsection shall be prohibited from applying for any state funding for a six-month period beginning the day after the last instance of noncompliance.
3. The Attorney General may commence an action in any court of competent jurisdiction for injunctive relief to compel compliance with the provisions of this section, and for civil penalties for violations.
4. Prior to commencing an action in court, the Attorney General shall give written notice to the grantee to cure such violations not later than 10 business days after receipt of the written notice.
SECTION 4. EFFECTIVE DATE
This law shall become effective on July 1, 20XX.