We have analyzed all statements from state-mandated consent to abortion booklets produced by the states highlighted in orange. Learn more about your state here.
Only the states in orange have mandated and produced written informed consent to abortion materials. White states have no such materials to evaluate. Please note that Kentucky and Mississippi were not included in our recently published article, but have been evaluated since the research for that article was completed.
We developed a scale that allowed our panel of experts to rate statements from state-mandated informed consent to abortion materials for both whether they were ‘true or false’ and whether they were ‘misleading or non-misleading’. The results were then compiled into a single measure of medical accuracy. Any statement scoring an average of three or more on either five-point scale was marked as ‘medically inaccurate’. The following is a screenshot from our survey instrument that captures our two scales.
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LOUISIANA
In this example, our panel of experts found the statement ‘the head is erect and the arms and legs are developed’ to be ‘medically inaccurate‘ at week 16 of pregnancy (LMP).
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GEORGIA
In this example from Georgia, the informed consent materials state that at 8 weeks, “reflex activities begin as the brain and nervous system develop”. Our panel of medical experts deemed this to be ‘medically inaccurate‘.
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KANSAS
This informed consent booklet claims that ‘by 9 weeks, the hands move, the neck turns, and hiccups begin’. This is ‘medically inaccurate‘, according to our panel of experts.
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VIRGINIA
Our panel of experts found the statement ‘the embryo continues to grow, forming more organs, including the brain’ to be ‘medically inaccurate‘ for the 8th week of pregnancy.
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UTAH
According to this Informed Consent booklet, ‘in the brain there may be electrical waves, and occasionally, the embryo moves, although the woman doesn’t feel it.’ Our panel of experts found this to be ‘medically inaccurate‘.
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SOUTH DAKOTA
In this example, our panel of experts found the statement ‘the fetus at this stage has the reflex ability to suck and grasp’ to be ‘medically inaccurate‘ for week 22 of pregnancy (LMP)
