Testimony Opposing "Misinformed Consent" Bill, SB 138
TESTIMONY OF KELDA HELEN ROYS,
OPPOSING 2005 SB 138, “MISINFORMED CONSENT”
April 19, 2005
To: Wisconsin State Senate
Committee on Health, Children, Families, Aging, and Long Term Care
From: Kelda Helen Roys, Esq., Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin
Re: Opposition to SB 138, “Misinformed Consent”
Date: April 19, 2005
Good morning. My name is Kelda Helen Roys. I am the Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, and I am here representing thousands of our members statewide to register strong opposition to SB 138, the “Misinformed Consent” bill. Thank you for the opportunity to testify against this proposed legislation.
NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin is a grassroots political advocacy organization that works to ensure every woman the right to the full range of reproductive health care services, including preventing unwanted pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and safe, legal abortion. The Misinformed Consent bill will negatively impact patient health, and do nothing to reduce unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion.
The facts are clear: this bill will require doctors to make misleading, unproven, and medically inaccurate statements to the patients who trust them with their lives and health. Doctors will not be permitted to tailor the information to their individual patients, so those who have abortions at 5 weeks will receive the same biased propaganda as those who have to terminate a wanted pregnancy because the fetus is not viable or because continuing the pregnancy could be fatal for the patient.
The Misinformed Consent bill compromises doctors’ ability to provide all patients with the comprehensive, individualized, and compassionate care they deserve and are legally entitled to. Politicians should not dictate what skilled medical professionals should tell their patients. By forcing doctors to present inaccurate and biased information as fact, politicians jeopardize the health of patients and the professional reputations of all health care providers. The Misinformed Consent bill interferes with the doctor-patient relationship simply to push a narrow ideological agenda.
You’ll hear from lawyers that SB 138 is unnecessary because Wisconsin law already requires informed consent. You’ll hear from doctors that it’s medically unsupportable and damaging to their patients. But as the director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, a health care advocacy organization, I will say something different. Today, I ask this legislature, to not only reject this dangerous proposal, but to actually do something to improve the health of women and children in this state.
Let’s speak frankly about the Misinformed Consent bill – it is intended to shame, terrorize, and confuse women facing the decision of whether or not to continue a pregnancy. It is pushed by those who oppose the right to safe, legal abortion even in cases of rape, even in cases where the health or life of the woman is threatened. It prevents doctors from giving proper, truthful, and individualized information to patients, and thus prevents women from giving real informed consent to medical decisions. What this bill does not do is provide any solutions whatsoever for women facing an unintended, unviable, or life-threatening pregnancy.
I’m saddened that some here today seem to prefer a path of medical interference, scare tactics, and exploitation of tragedy, rather than one of true commitment to improving the lives and health of Wisconsin families.
Today, I ask you, please, to work with us to reduce the need for abortion – make it less necessary. This legislature could truly save lives (and save money) by ensuring that every woman has access to effective birth control, and that emergency contraception is readily available for all women, especially victims of rape. You have the power to address the shameful infant mortality rate for women of color in this state by ensuring that pregnant women receive rubella shots. You could empower young people by giving them the tools they need to make healthy and responsible choices, to delay sex, to prevent unintended pregnancy and to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections. You could make sure that every woman gets great pre-natal care, and post-natal care, and support to help her family stay healthy – even if she is poor.
Any one of these suggestions would be a huge step in the right direction toward reducing the need for abortion and ensuring that Wisconsin women and families stay healthy. Please join us in working to make abortion less necessary, and in pursuing public policies worthy of the citizens of Wisconsin, and of this legislative body.
Thank you.
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