Topeka – Representative Lance Kinzer announced that he has introduced a bill, along with 38 co-sponsors, that promotes a woman’s physical and psychological health and advances the state’s important and legitimate interest in protecting fetal life.
The bill will require that 24 hours prior to an abortion, the mother must be provided a list of free sonogram locations and with information for free counseling assistance for medically challenging pregnancies and contacts for free perinatal hospice services.
30 minutes prior to an abortion, when the mother consults with her doctor (which is required under current law) and a sonogram is used, the woman must be offered the opportunity to see and get a copy of the sonogram image and to hear her baby’s heartbeat. All four clinics in Kansas use sonograms.
Additionally, the bill mandates that an anti-coercion sign be posted in the clinic so that every woman knows her legal rights. It also requires the state to create a standard information video and online website that includes modern fetal ultrasound in 2 week developmental increments.
“It is imperative that every woman considering an abortion receive complete information on the reality and status of her pregnancy and her unborn child,” said Representative Lance Kinzer. “Every woman submitting to an abortion should only do so after giving her voluntary and well informed consent."
This bill keeps Kansas in step with the 15, and counting, states that have passed some form of sonogram legislation in order to ensure that the mother is making an informed choice based upon seeing her unborn child.
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