(a) (1) The State Department of Public Health shall develop standardized, objective information about umbilical cord blood donation that is sufficient to allow a pregnant woman to make an informed decision on whether to participate in a private or public umbilical cord blood banking program. The information developed by the department shall enable a pregnant woman to be informed of her option to do any of the following:
(A) Discard umbilical cord blood.
(B) Donate umbilical cord blood to a public umbilical cord blood bank.
(C) Store the umbilical cord blood in a family umbilical cord blood bank for the use by immediate and extended family members.
(D) Donate umbilical cord blood to research.
(2) The information developed pursuant to paragraph (1) shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(A) The current and potential future medical uses of stored umbilical cord blood.
(B) The benefits and risks involved in umbilical cord blood banking.
(C) The medical process involved in umbilical cord blood banking.
(D) Medical or family history criteria that can impact a family’s consideration of umbilical cord banking.
(E) An explanation of the differences between public and private umbilical cord blood banking.
(F) The availability and costs of public or private umbilical cord blood banks.
(G) Medical or family history criteria that can impact a family’s consideration of umbilical cord blood banking.
(H) An explanation that the practices and policies of blood banks may vary with respect to accreditation, cord blood processing and storage methods, costs, and donor privacy.
(I) An explanation that pregnant women are not required to donate their umbilical cord blood for research purposes.
(b) The information provided by the department pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be made available in Cantonese, English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, and shall be updated by the department as needed.
(c) The information provided by the department pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be made available on the Internet Web sites of the licensing boards that have oversight over primary prenatal care providers.
(d) (1) A primary prenatal care provider of a woman who is known to be pregnant may, during the first prenatal visit, provide the information required by subdivision (a) to the pregnant woman.
(2) For purposes of this article, a “prenatal care provider” means a health care provider licensed pursuant to Division 2 (commencing with Section 500) of the Business and Professions Code, or pursuant to an initiative act referred to in that division, who provides prenatal medical care within his or her scope of practice.
(e) The department shall only implement this article upon a determination by the Director of Finance, that sufficient private donations have been collected and deposited into the Umbilical Cord Blood Education Account, which is hereby created in the State Treasury. The moneys in the account shall be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of this article. No public funds shall be used to implement this article. If sufficient funds are collected and deposited into the account, the Director of Finance shall file a written notice thereof with the Secretary of State.
(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 517, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2008.)