§ 41-41-35. Duties of State Department of Health; printed materials

MS Code § 41-41-35 (2019) (N/A)
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(1) The State Department of Health shall cause to be published in English within sixty (60) days after July 1, 1991, the following easily comprehensible printed materials:

(a) Geographically indexed materials designed to inform the woman of public and private agencies and services available to assist a woman through pregnancy, upon childbirth and while the child is dependent, including adoption agencies, which shall include a comprehensive list of the agencies available, a description of the services they offer and a description of the manner, including telephone numbers, in which they might be contacted, or, at the option of the Department of Health, printed materials including a toll-free, twenty-four-hour-a-day telephone number which may be called to obtain, orally, such a list and description of agencies in the locality of the caller and of the services they offer.

(b) Materials designed to inform the woman of the probable anatomical and physiological characteristics of the unborn child at two-week gestational increments from the time when a woman can be known to be pregnant to full term, including any relevant information on the possibility of the unborn child’s survival. The materials shall include color pictures representing the development of the child at two-week gestational increments. These pictures must contain the dimensions of the unborn child and must be realistic. The materials shall be objective, nonjudgmental and designed to convey only accurate scientific information about the unborn child at the various gestational ages.

(c) Materials that include the information described in subparagraphs (ii) and (iv) of paragraph (1)(a) of Section 41-41-33 and in subparagraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) of paragraph (1)(b) of Section 41-41-33.

(d) Materials designed to inform the woman of pregnancy prevention methods for females and males, which materials shall describe each method in detail and include pictures or diagrams that illustrate the proper usage of each method.

(2) The materials shall be printed in a typeface large enough to be clearly legible.

(3) The materials required under this section shall be available at no cost from the Department of Health upon request and in appropriate number to any person, facility or hospital.

(4) The Department of Health shall review the printed materials required by subsection (1) of this section on an annual basis in order to determine if any changes are needed to be made to the contents of the materials, and shall promulgate any rules and regulations necessary for considering and making such changes.