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Should NH track abortion statistics?

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Rep. Kathleen Souza is sponsoring a 2017 bill that would require the Department of Health and Human Services to track abortion statistics and release an annual report.

Under the bill, HB 471, any health care provider that provides an abortion would need to submit information about the patient to the state through an electronic form. Patients and providers would be assigned confidential identification numbers. The public would be able to view aggregate data on abortions, including the woman’s age, the woman’s county of residence, the gestational age of the fetus, the method of abortion, and the woman’s use of contraception. 

Supporters note that almost every other state tracks abortion statistics and reports them to the Centers for Disease Control

Abortion statistics can inform policymakers about when and where women are seeking abortions; a policymaker can use that information to advocate for increasing or decreasing access to abortion.

However, some pro-choice advocates believe that HB 471 invites further intrusion into a woman's private reproductive health care decisions. They point out that the state does not collect data on any medical procedures for men. They also note that women are not able to opt-out of data collection, although citizens are allowed to opt-out of many other databases, such as the vaccine registry.

Last year the Legislature considered a similar bill, HB 629. That bill was tabled in the Senate.

The Department of State estimates one-time expenditure of $141,000 to set up the reporting system. The Department of Health and Human Services states data analysis and reporting would be provided through a contract with the University of New Hampshire for Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Services. 

Do you think the state should pass HB 471? Let us know in the comments.

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