Label
Council Members Komives, Gadus and Williams
Title
Enacting Toledo Municipal Code Section 521.13 "Patient Safety"; and declaring an emergency.
Body
WHEREAS, Toledo City Council recognizes that access to reproductive health care facilities for the purpose of obtaining medical counseling and treatment is imperative for the residents of this region; and that preventing the willful obstruction of a person's access to medical counseling and treatment at a reproductive health care facility is a matter of safety and of citywide concern. City Council therefore declares that it is appropriate to enact legislation that prohibits a person from knowingly obstructing another person's entry to or exit from a reproductive health care facility; and
WHEREAS, preventing the willful obstruction of and interference with people's access to reproductive health care and the protection of public safety is a matter of citywide concern; and
WHEREAS, there is a documented history of obstruction of and interference with people's access to reproductive health care services in Toledo; and
WHEREAS, this ordinance ensures that First Amendment freedoms including speech and peaceable assembly are not unduly restricted or overburdened, and no more than minimally necessary to ensure safe and unhindered access to reproductive health care facilities;
Summary
NOW, THEREFORE, Be it ordained by the Council of the City of Toledo:
SECTION 1. That a new Section 521.13, entitled "Patient Safety" be enacted to read as follows:
521.13 Patient Safety
(a) Definitions. As used in this section:
(1) "Reproductive Health Care Facility" means a hospital, clinic, ambulatory surgical treatment center, other center, medical school, office of a physician, infirmary, dispensary, medical training institution, or other health care facility at which licensed, certified or otherwise legally authorized persons provide health care services and/or health care counsel...
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