Kentucky’s Governor Matt Bevin has signed a bill which makes it mandatory for a woman considering abortion to receive direct medical consultation at least 24 hours before the procedure.
Christian Today reports that the information must be delivered to the woman seeking the abortion either in person or via a real-time video conference call, the new bill states.
Previously, information for a woman seeking an abortion was limited to a telephone message.
The new bill has been praised by pro-life advocates.
"The overwhelming support for Senate Bill 4 in the Kentucky legislature is a positive step toward protecting the emotional and physical health and safety of women," said Bevin, according to LifeSite News.
The bill is the first pro-life measure signed into law in the state in 12 years.
“We have worked for over a decade to correct the obviously flawed interpretation and enforcement of the original bill that we passed in 1998," said Margie Montgomery, executive director of Kentucky Right to Life Association.
“Governor Bevin's immediate action to sign the new informed consent for abortion law is a great act of service –– not only to pregnant mothers, but also the state as a whole," added Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life.
Bevin also shut down a Planned Parenthood facility in Louisville which was operating without a license.
Planned Parenthood officials have condemned the new law.
Betty Cockrum, head of the regional Planned Parenthood stated that the the law is "just one more barrier and one more burden to what is the constitutional right of women.”
Publication date: February 8, 2016
