Ohio to publish expanded, more frequent abortion reports ...Middle East

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio’s recently passed operating budget will expand the scope of abortion reporting, in a move critics say conflicts with the state’s reproductive rights amendment.

Ohio law requires physicians to report certain information about abortions to the state Department of Health. This data is collected through confidential forms given to patients that include questions about their medical history and demographic information.

The data from the forms is summarized into publicly-released annual reports, which detail abortion statistics in the state for the previous calendar year. Patients’ names are not included. 

The $60 billion two-year budget, signed by Gov. Mike DeWine on June 30, will expand the amount of abortion information that is published, most notably by creating a public, electronic dashboard that will release data from these forms each month. This will supplement the annual report rather than replace it.

The continuously updating dashboard will include data similar to what is currently published in the annual reports, including the total number of abortions, along with the number of procedures categorized by age, ZIP code, race, marital status and more.

The budget creates new statistical categories that will be included in the monthly and annual reports. New information includes the number of abortions performed on minors at each facility, as well as the number of Ohioans and out-of-state residents who had abortions after 12 weeks of gestation.

The legislation also calls for the annual reports to be published in March rather than October. This will make the data released in the reports more current. 

Kellie Copeland, executive director of the Ohio-based organization Abortion Forward, claimed the changes are "unconstitutional" under the Ohio Reproductive Freedom Amendment, which was passed by voters in 2023 and enshrined the right to abortion in the state constitution. The amendment says the state “shall not directly or indirectly, burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against” abortion patients or providers. 

"Politicians in the Ohio Statehouse are targeting abortion providers with bureaucratic red tape specifically designed to make it harder to serve patients,” Copeland said. “By only requiring this level of reporting for doctors providing abortion services, and not providers of other healthcare procedures, these regulations are clearly discriminatory…" 

On the contrary, Ohio Right to Life said modernizing Ohio’s abortion reporting was one of its “big priorities” for this budget. Executive director Carrie Snyder stated the current system is not useful because of an “enormous delay” in publishing information. 

“Since abortion represents a failure to reach and assist a woman in need, monthly statistics will greatly help our organization as well as hundreds of others across our state,” Snyder said. “Pregnancy centers are ready and waiting to offer free services to these women and by better understanding her age and situation, they can improve outreach and show her life-affirming alternatives to abortion.”

Under current law, physicians are required to submit an abortion report to the state department within 15 days of a patient being discharged. If they do not submit the form as required, they could face a court order mandating its submission, fines or other disciplinary action. The budget maintains this requirement. 

The new abortion reporting rules will go into effect on Sept. 28, along with other policy updates included in the legislation.

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