Montana Code 50-20-302. Legislative purpose and findings
50-20-302. Legislative purpose and findings. (1) The legislature finds that:
Terms Used In Montana Code 50-20-302
- Abortion: means the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or other substance or device to intentionally terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant, with an intention other than to increase the probability of a live birth, to preserve the life or health of the child after live birth, or to remove a dead fetus. See Montana Code 50-20-104
- Informed consent: means voluntary consent to an abortion by the woman upon whom the abortion is to be performed only after full disclosure to the woman by:
(a)the physician who is to perform the abortion of the following information:
(i)the particular medical risks associated with the particular abortion procedure to be employed, including, when medically accurate, the risks of infection, hemorrhage, breast cancer, danger to subsequent pregnancies, and infertility;
(ii)the probable gestational age of the unborn child at the time the abortion is to be performed; and
(iii)the medical risks of carrying the child to term;
(b)the physician or an agent of the physician:
(i)that medical assistance benefits may be available for prenatal care, childbirth, and neonatal care;
(ii)that the father is liable to assist in the support of the child, even in instances in which the father has offered to pay for the abortion; and
(iii)that the woman has the right to review the printed materials described in 50-20-304; and
(c)the physician or the agent that the printed materials described in 50-20-304 have been provided by the department and that the materials describe the unborn child and list agencies that offer alternatives to abortion. See Montana Code 50-20-104
- Physician: means a person licensed to practice medicine under Title 37, chapter 3. See Montana Code 50-20-303
(a)it is essential to the psychological and physical well-being of a woman who is considering an abortion that the woman receive complete and accurate information on alternatives;
(b)the knowledgeable exercise of a woman’s decision to have an abortion depends on the extent to which the woman receives sufficient information to make an informed choice between the alternatives of giving birth and having an abortion;
(c)in most instances, the only contact with a physician that a woman who has an abortion has occurs simultaneously with the abortion procedure, with little opportunity to receive counseling concerning the decision;
(d)the decision to abort is an important and often stressful one, and it is desirable and imperative that it be made with full knowledge of its nature and consequences;
(e)the medical, emotional, and psychological consequences of an abortion are serious and can be lasting;
(f)some abortion facilities or providers offer only limited or impersonal counseling opportunities; and
(g)some abortion facilities or providers hire untrained and unprofessional counselors whose primary goal is to sell abortion services.
(2)Based on the findings in subsection (1), it is the purpose of this part to:
(a)ensure that every woman who is considering an abortion receive complete information on alternatives and that every woman submitting to an abortion do so only after giving informed consent to the abortion procedure;
(b)protect unborn children from a woman’s uninformed decision to have an abortion; and
(c)reduce the risk that a woman may elect an abortion, only to discover later, with devastating psychological consequences, that the decision was not fully informed.