Davis Signs Six Bills Related to Reproductive Health
Gov. Gray Davis (D) on Thursday signed six bills related to the provision of emergency contraception, sex education and other reproductive health measures, the AP/San Diego Union Tribune reports (Oberthur, AP/San Diego Union Tribune, 10/3). Summaries of those bills appear below.
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SB 71, sponsored by Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), requires schools to provide students in sex education classes with accurate and age-appropriate information on abstinence, human sexuality, contraception, pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
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SB 490, sponsored by Sen. Dede Alpert (D-San Diego), establishes uniform guidelines for EC approved by the California Medical Board and the Board of Pharmacy.
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SB 545, sponsored by Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough), caps the fee that pharmacists can charge for EC at $10.
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AB 561, sponsored by Assembly member Sally Lieber (D-Mountain View), codifies outreach programs established to reduce teenage pregnancy and the incidence of STDs. The bill would establish the Male Involvement Program, the Community Challenge Grant Program, the TeenSMART Program and the Information and Education Program in the DHS Office of Family Planning (California Healthline, 8/14).
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AB 663, sponsored by Lieber, bans teaching hospitals from performing invasive pelvic examinations on female patients who are unconscious without prior explicit consent (Halper, Los Angeles Times, 10/3).
- AB 996, sponsored by Assembly member Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa), mandates that property insurers cannot increase premiums for abortion clinics because of claims that result from hate crimes committed by abortion-rights opponents. The bill also would expand the hate crime definition in the state insurance code to include interference with employees, patients, volunteers or contractors at abortion clinics (California Healthline, 8/14).