Prohibits unregulated pregnancy centers from requiring clients, as a condition of service, or making it reasonably appear to be a condition of service, to disclose certain information relating to their medical history, sexual history, relationship to the other parent of the potential baby, or insurance or financial information.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8705
IN SENATE
January 7, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. HINCHEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Women's Issues
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to prohibiting unreg-
ulated pregnancy centers from requiring clients to disclose certain
information as a condition of service
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new article
2 25-C to read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 25-C
4 RIGHT TO DIGNIFIED CARE ACT
5 Section 2599-ff. Legislative intent.
6 2599-gg. Definition.
7 2599-hh. Prohibited intake questions.
8 2599-ii. Enforcement.
9 § 2599-ff. Legislative intent. The legislature finds that unregulated
10 pregnancy centers also known as crisis pregnancy centers, are facilities
11 that represent themselves as offering comprehensive reproductive health
12 care information and services but are primarily intended to discourage
13 clients from seeking or accessing abortions. Unregulated pregnancy
14 centers commonly ask clients to fill out intake forms that resemble
15 those required by licensed health care providers, including questions
16 about prescription history, sexual history, and other personal medical
17 and lifestyle information. However, clients may not understand that such
18 detailed and personal information is not required given the non-medical
19 nature of services provided by unregulated pregnancy centers, nor is
20 such information protected by rules like the health insurance portabil-
21 ity and accountability act or other state and federal laws applicable to
22 regulated health care providers. In practice, the personal information
23 clients provide at unregulated pregnancy centers is often shared with
24 third-party organizations that similarly do not provide health care
25 services. Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature to ensure that
26 unregulated pregnancy centers may not require, or institute policies
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14276-01-5
S. 8705 2
1 such that it appears to require, that clients provide such information
2 as a condition of service.
3 § 2599-gg. Definition. For purposes of this section, "unregulated
4 pregnancy center" shall mean a facility or entity, the primary purpose
5 of which is to provide determination of pregnancy or pregnancy coun-
6 seling, that does not provide or refer for a full range of comprehensive
7 reproductive sexual care services; provided, however, that "unregulated
8 pregnancy center" shall not include any facility licensed pursuant to
9 article twenty-eight of this chapter or article thirty-one or thirty-two
10 of the mental hygiene law, or any facility whose primary purpose is to
11 facilitate adoption.
12 § 2599-hh. Prohibited intake questions. An unregulated pregnancy
13 center shall not make it a condition of service, or make it reasonably
14 appear to be a condition of service, that a client must disclose any of
15 the following information:
16 1. lists of, or other information regarding, prescription medications
17 the client takes, the client's current or past illnesses, or the
18 client's medical conditions, except as directly relates to a determi-
19 nation of pregnancy;
20 2. information regarding the client's sexual history including, but
21 not limited to, the client's age when they first became sexually active,
22 the client's current sexual activity status, or the sexual identity of
23 the client;
24 3. information regarding the nature of the client's relationship to
25 the potential baby's non-gestational parent, including but not limited
26 to the name or age of the potential baby's non-gestational parent, or
27 whether the client is currently or was previously living with such indi-
28 vidual;
29 4. if the unregulated pregnancy center does not bill health insurance
30 for services, any information regarding the client's insurance status,
31 income, employer, or eligibility for public assistance; or
32 5. if the unregulated pregnancy center does bill health insurance for
33 services, any information relating to the client's insurance status,
34 income, employer, or eligibility for public assistance, except to the
35 extent necessary to execute such billing.
36 § 2599-ii. Enforcement. The attorney general or the district attorney
37 of any county may bring an action in the name of the people of the state
38 to restrain or prevent any violation of this article or any continuance
39 of such violation.
40 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
41 have become a law.
