Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Chapter 111 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 24D the following section:-

Section 24E. For the purposes of this section, the term "comprehensive family planning services" shall mean those medical, educational, and social services that assist individuals of childbearing age, including sexually active minors, in determining the number and spacing of their children.

The department shall establish within its health promotion division a program for comprehensive family planning services for all persons without regard to religion, race, color, national origin, creed, handicap, sex, number of pregnancies, marital status, age, or contraceptive preference, who do not receive medical assistance under chapter one hundred and eighteen E.

Comprehensive family planning services provided pursuant to this section shall be no less in scope than such services provided by the department of public welfare pursuant to chapter one hundred and eighteen E. Services shall be provided in a manner which protects the dignity of the recipient. Service providers shall assure confidentiality and shall protect the privacy of recipients in a manner consistent with the provisions of 5 USC 552a. No information obtained regarding a recipient shall be disclosed without the consent of said recipient, except as required by law or as necessary to provide such services. Information may be disclosed in summary, statistical, or other form which does not identify individual recipients. Recipients shall accept such services on a voluntary basis. Income standards for eligibility shall be established by the department; provided, however, that such standards shall not be less than two hundred percent of the non-farm income poverty guidelines prescribed by the United States department of health and human services. A sworn affidavit as to income by an applicant shall be sufficient to establish eligibility. This section shall be the responsibility of the division of health promotion. Services provided hereunder shall be provided by agencies operating under the provisions of 42 USC 300, 300a or comprehensive family planning agencies as defined by the department of public welfare.