Doctors who do not provide specific information to women seeking abortions will be subject to fines and jail time, if a bill appearing before the Iowa Senate becomes law.

The House passed House File 2264, known as the Women’s Right to Know Act, by a vote of 70-28 Monday.

The bill requires doctors to give women considering an abortion, by any procedure, information about available Medicaid, child care responsibilities of the father, adoption and other alternatives to abortion. Women can, however, refuse the information.

Rep. Teresa Garman, R-Ames, said the bill could help women become more informed about the decision of having an abortion.

“It’s rather difficult for me to understand that we would not want to educate women about a medical procedure that they are going to have done,” she said.

Garman said enforcement of the bill would not involve direct observation of the doctors’ actions, but if a woman were to complain after the operation that she had not received the information, legal action would be taken.

“We’re not going to be looking over their shoulders,” she said. “I think we will not have a problem with doctors following the bill if it becomes law.”

Garman said the simple misdemeanor component of the legislation functions to ensure information is offered by doctors.

Opponents of the bill object to the heavy price tag and the criminal sanctions placed on doctors.

“It has a cost of $96,000 and we’re in a tight budget year, and I would rather spend that money on pregnancy planning and prevention,” said Rep. Mark Smith, D-Marshalltown.

Price, criminal sanctions and lack of enforcement were Smith’s three reasons for voting against the bill.

“I don’t believe that it is necessary for Iowa,” he said. “I think that the informed consent law under Chapter 147 is adequate.”

The informed consent law requires doctors to provide patients with information about operations, but failing to provide the information would be considered a criminal act.

The new legislation, however, would establish lesser standards for abortion, because a woman can refuse to take the information, said Judith Rutledge, vice president for governmental affairs for Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa.

“A patient could end up getting less medical information than she currently would,” she said.

Rutledge said Planned Parenthood opposes the bill both because of the cost and the possibility of criminalizing physicians for not providing information to patients.

“It is really unconscionable to be putting an unnecessary and unneeded program into place when we could use these funds in numerous other ways,” she said. “Individual physicians are opposed to this legislation. Unfortunately the medical society has not taken an active role in opposing the bill.”

Though a previous version of the bill passed both houses last year, Gov. Tom Vilsack vetoed it because of a stipulation that the information be provided to the woman at least 24 hours before the abortion, Garman said.