2020 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 25.5 - Health Care Policy And Financing
Article 10. Community Living
Section 25.5-10-231. Sterilization rights.
(1) It is the intent of the general assembly that the procedures set forth in the following subsections be utilized when sterilization is being considered for the primary purpose of rendering the person incapable of reproduction.
(2) Any person with an intellectual and developmental disability over eighteen years of age who has given informed consent has the right to be sterilized, subject to the following:
(a) Prior to the procedure, competency to give informed consent and assurance that such consent is voluntarily and freely given shall be evaluated by the following:
A psychiatrist, psychologist, or physician who does not provide services or supportsto the person and who has consulted with and interviewed the person with an intellectual and developmental disability; and
An intellectual and developmental disabilities professional who does not provideservices or supports in which said person participates, and who has consulted with and interviewed the person with an intellectual and developmental disability.
(b) The professionals who conducted the evaluation pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (2) shall consult with the physician who is to perform the operation concerning each professional's opinion in regard to the informed consent of the person requesting the sterilization.
Any person with an intellectual and developmental disability whose capacity to givean informed consent is challenged by the intellectual and developmental disabilities professional or the physician may file a petition with the court to declare competency to give consent pursuant to the procedures set forth in section 25.5-10-232.
No person with an intellectual and developmental disability who is over eighteenyears of age and has the capacity to participate in the decision-making process regarding sterilization shall be sterilized in the absence of the person's informed consent. No minor may be sterilized without a court order pursuant to section 25.5-10-233.
Sterilization conducted pursuant to this section shall be legal. Consent given by anyperson pursuant to subsection (2) of this section is not revocable after sterilization, and no person shall be liable for acting pursuant to such consent.
Source: L. 2013: Entire article added with relocations, (HB 13-1314), ch. 323, p. 1777, § 1, effective March 1, 2014.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 27-10.5-128 as it existed prior to 2013.
