Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that amends abortion complication reporting requirements for health care providers and facilities.

Highlights:

• Requires physicians to submit a report to the commission on each abortion complication within 72 hours after the complication is diagnosed or treated and each healthcare facility to submit a report on each abortion complication within 30 days after the complication is diagnosed or treated (Sec. 1).

• Defines “abortion complication” as any harmful event or adverse outcome to a patient who had an abortion that is diagnosed or treated by a healthcare practitioner or at a healthcare facility including, but not limited to (Sec. 1):

• Uterine perforation;

• Cervical laceration;

• Hemorrhage;

• Sepsis;

• Death of the patient;

• Incomplete Abortion; or

• An infant born alive after the abortion.

• Specifies that reporting requirements apply to a physician at an abortion facility that diagnoses or treats an abortion complication that resulted from an abortion performed by that or another physician at that facility or a healthcare facility that provides emergency medical care (Sec. 1).

• Requires the commission to develop a form for reporting abortion complications that will be available on the commission’s website (Sec. 1).

• Prohibits reports to identify the physician performing the abortion, unless that physician is filing the report, or the patient on whom the abortion was performed (Sec. 1).

• Requires reports to include the following (Sec. 1):

• The name of the physician submitting the report or the name and type of facility submitting the report;

• The date of the abortion;

• The type of abortion;

• The gestational age of the fetus at the time the abortion was performed;

• The date the complication was diagnosed or treated;

• The name and type of the facility other than the reporting facility in which the complication was diagnosed or treated;

• A description of the complication;

• The patient’s year of birth, race, marital status, and state and county of residence;

• The date of the first day of the patient’s last menstrual period that occurred before the abortion;

• The number of previous live births of the patient; and

• The number of previous induced abortions of the patient.

• Specifies that all information and records collected are confidential and may not be released or made public on subpoena except in the following cases (Sec. 1):

• For statistical purposes if a person, patient, or healthcare facility is not identified;

• With the consent of each person, patient, and facility identified in the information released;

• To medical personnel, appropriate state agencies, or county and district courts to enforce this law; or

• To appropriate state licensing boards to enforce licensing laws.

• Specifies that physicians and health care facilities who violate this law are subject to a civil penalty of $500 for each violation (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that a third violation of this law constitutes cause for the revocation or suspension of a physician’s or healthcare facility’s license, permit, registration, certificate, or other authority or for other disciplinary action against the physician or facility by the appropriate licensing agency (Sec. 1).