SB 318 - This act modifies the laws on abortion reporting and recordkeeping requirements. Currently, an individual abortion report for each abortion performed or induced upon a woman shall be completed by her attending physician. This act provides that the individual report shall include information required by the United States Standard Report of Induced Termination of Pregnancy published by the National Center for Health Statistics. The report shall also include information on the type of abortion procedure used, including the specific surgical or nonsurgical method or the specific abortion-inducing drug or drugs employed. In addition, the report shall include the reason or reasons the woman sought the abortion, including specific medical, social, economic, or other factors and whether the woman used any method of family planning during the time she became pregnant, and if so, the specific method employed. This act also adds information to be collected and evaluated for the annual abortion report published by the Department of Health and Senior Services. The report shall include data from abortions performed or induced and post-abortion care provided. The report shall also specify the gestational age, by weekly increments, at which abortions were performed or induced. The report shall not include any information that would allow the public to identify a specific patient, a physician who performed or induced an abortion or who provided post-abortion care, or a hospital or abortion facility where the abortion was performed or induced, or which provided post-abortion care.
The information shall be voluntarily provided by the woman seeking or obtaining the abortion, but the abortion facility, hospital, or physician shall make all reasonable efforts to collect the information required by this section and shall in no way dissuade, hinder in any way, or otherwise discourage the woman from providing the information required by this act.
This act also provides that any person who knowingly violates the confidentiality of any records, reports or documents maintained by the hospital or abortion facility, or received by the department shall be guilty of a Class D felony.
ADRIANE CROUSE