Washington D.C., Oct 4, 2019 / 15:00 pm
Senators have introduced legislation that would require states to report abortion statistics to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control, including in all cases where babies survive botched abortions.
The Ensuring Accurate and Complete Abortion Data Reporting Act of 2019 would make certain Medicaid family planning funds to states conditional upon their gathering and reporting comprehensive abortion data to the CDC.
"Requiring comprehensive reporting from every state will finally give Americans-regardless of your stance on the issue-an accurate look at abortion trends in our country," stated Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who introduced the legislation last week with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
Currently, state reporting on abortions is voluntary. Currently, the CDC relies on data that has significant gaps, as three states-California, Maryland, and New Hampshire which together represent around 15% of the U.S. population-do not report abortion data, the office of Sen. Cotton said.