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Vermont bill S.28 draws warnings on speech rules and telemedicine abortion prescriptions
Summary
Witnesses at the Senate Health & Welfare Committee hearing urged changes to S.28, which would amend Act 15 to regulate advertising about health care as commercial speech and create a telemedicine prescribing exception for abortion medications that critics say could lower standards and raise First Amendment risks.
Sharon Toborg, a policy analyst for the Vermont Right to Life Committee, told the Senate Health & Welfare Committee that S.28 — a bill to amend language adopted in Act 15 — contains provisions that would chill protected speech and create constitutionally vulnerable regulatory categories.
"It defines all advertising about health care services or proposed service in Vermont as commercial speech, even if there's no economic motive underlying the speech," Toborg said, arguing that the provision would sweep far beyond typical commercial advertising and could be used to penalize organizations and individuals who discuss health care options. She noted a pending federal lawsuit brought in July 2023 by the National Institute for Life Advocates and two Vermont pregnancy resource centers challenging parts of Act 15.
The bill would also add language to unprofessional-conduct statutes and create a telemedicine exception that allows certain prescriptions that terminate pregnancy to be issued based on an…
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