Actions Taken On Women's Health-Related Legislation In Mo., Neb., Tenn.

Main Category: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine
Also Included In: Abortion;  Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Stem Cell Research
Article Date: 29 Feb 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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The following highlights recent state news about women's health-related legislation.

• Missouri: The Senate preliminarily approved a bill (SB 778) Tuesday that would require parents of girls entering the sixth grade be sent information on how HPV is transmitted, the virus' symptoms and its link to cervical cancer, as well as require parents to tell the state whether their daughters have received the immunization, the AP/Belleville News Democrat reports. This would allow the state to track HPV vaccination rates. The bill also provides payment for the vaccinations if families cannot afford it. According to the AP/News Democrat, the measure would cost an estimated $2.3 million, but one Republican leader estimated the cost would be higher (Blank, AP/Belleville News Democrat, 2/26).
  
  
• Nebraska: The Legislature on Tuesday gave first-round approval to a bill (LB 606) that would bar the use of state funds or facilities for creating or destroying human embryos for the purposes of research, the AP/Sioux City Journal reports. The measure allows researchers to use existing embryonic stem cell lines but prohibits the use of state funding to conduct research that uses somatic cell nuclear transfer, which the bill defines as "a technique in which the nucleus of an oocyte is replaced with the nucleus of a somatic cell." Lawmakers assured officials at the University of Nebraska Medical Center that further restrictions on stem cell research in the state are not expected to pass in the near future. University officials endorsed the measure but said it is not perfect, the AP/Journal reports. If approved, the bill would establish an advisory committee comprising deans from medical schools in the state and two scientists from outside the state that would award matching grants of up to $500,000 for nonembryonic stem cell research (AP/Sioux City Journal, 2/26).
  
  
• Tennessee: A House subcommittee on Tuesday voted 6-3 to reject a resolution (SJR 127) that would amend the state constitution to say that "nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion," the AP/Murfreesboro Daily News Journal reports (AP/Murfreesboro Daily News Journal, 2/26). The resolution, which was approved by the Senate earlier this month, is in part a response to a 2000 state Supreme Court decision that struck down some state restrictions on abortion, including a 48-hour waiting period, a requirement that women receive detailed information about the procedure and a requirement that all abortions after the first trimester be performed at a hospital (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 2/4). Democratic lawmakers said the proposed resolution is a partisan issue that often comes up in election years. Rep. Dolores Gresham (R), who is sponsoring the House version of the measure, vowed to find another route to bring the measure to the full House. The Senate approved the proposal earlier this year, but any attempts to bring the measure before the full House had been expected to fail as in the past, the Tennessean reports (Emery, Tennessean, 2/27).

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