Michigan stopped collecting abortion data in 2023. GOP wants to resume it

Republican state lawmakers want the Michigan health department to resume reporting detailed abortion data
Reports would include age, marital status, race, location and pregnancy history, reasons for the abortion and whether ‘the fetus showed evidence of life’
The Michigan health department noted abortion complications were rare in previous reports

A group of Republican lawmakers want Michigan to resume reporting and publishing detailed data on abortions performed in the state, after the health department ended the practice two years ago.

The state had collected such data for 45 years, but stopped doing so in response to the passage of the Reproductive Health Act in 2023. The act — intended to remove restrictions to abortions — repealed a 1978 law requiring abortion clinics to report details such as a patient’s age and marital status, the age of the fetus, the type of procedure and any complications.

Abortion opponents and the legislation’s sponsors spoke Wednesday to support the effort, describing the three-bill package as a means to limit the number of abortions performed in the state and their related complications.

“This is a no-nonsense step to protect women,” state Rep. Jennifer Wortz, R-Quincy, told the Michigan House Committee on Health Policy. “No matter the circumstances of an abortion, like any medical procedure, there is always a risk.”

What’s in the bills?

The bill package — HBs 5201, 5202, 5203 — would impose several reporting requirements for both medication and clinical abortions to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

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Under the proposed legislation, health care professionals would be required to document a patient’s age, marital status, race, location and pregnancy history. Providers would also note the rationale for an abortion, including categories like rape, incest or if a “child is not wanted at this time.”

Reports would also indicate whether “the fetus showed evidence of life” after the procedure, details about the health care worker’s professional background and facility address, payment type and dates. Telemedicine prescriptions, where abortion pills are picked up or delivered, would also be covered by the law.

The bills would require reporting on physical complications or death from abortions and require the state to compile annual statistical reports. The legislation would create a new felony penalty for those who unlawfully disclose confidential information related to an abortion.

“I am sure that many can agree that it would be a terrible thing for any patient to have their personal information publicly released and anyone in our state who undergoes a medical procedure deserves to have their medical information protected,” state Rep. Rachelle Smit, R-Shelbyville, told the committee.

Abortion debate

Supporters of the bill package say the legislation would bring Michigan in line with the rest of the country — 45 states and Washington, DC, have some sort of mandated abortion reporting, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which researches and advocates for reproductive health and rights. Total abortion bans are in place in 12 states.

“Accurate data is needed to inform policymakers, public health officials, medical researchers and other scholars, institutions, the media and the public,” Rebecca Mastee, a policy advocate for the Michigan Catholic Conference, told lawmakers.

Opponents to the reporting mandate, like Ashlea Phenicie with Planned Parenthood of Michigan, say the procedure is being unfairly targeted in a hostile anti-abortion political landscape following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in 2022.

“There’s no other type of health care that requires this level of personal information to be collected by providers and shared with the state government,” Phenicie told Bridge Michigan.

Abortion can only be provided by medical professionals licensed by state regulatory boards, Phencie said, and accountability guardrails are already in place by state agencies for any providers that fail to meet clinical and safety standards.

Phenicie said data on abortion should be provided willingly by participants.

Dr. Vashali Bhargava, chair of Michigan’s chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, is “opposed to legislative interference in the practice of medicine.”

“Michiganders deserve access to evidence-based health care, including abortion care, without fear of criminalization and burdensome, unnecessary requirements placed upon them and their trusted clinicians,” Bhargava said in a statement provided to Bridge.

Patients would face a “battery of questions” under the bills, disrupting relationships with health care providers in a “stigmatizing way,” according to Merissa Kovach, political director at the ACLU of Michigan.

“Those sponsors went to lengths to put privacy protections in place, but this collects so much information – it really paints a picture of who someone is,” Kovach said. “It could reveal their identity when they’re seeking really discreet … potentially lifesaving care in a really difficult, scary situation.”

Kovach said the bills impose “unnecessary and administrative burdens on medical professionals.” An analysis conducted by the bipartisan House Fiscal Agency found the legislation would have an “indeterminate” financial impact on MDHHS, with costs dependent on creating a standardized reporting form and its subsequent data collection and statistical reporting.

While supporters of abortion reporting point to the lack of information on complications, the state’s final abortion report indicates most abortions do not result in immediate problems.

There were 1.7 complications documented per 10,000 induced abortions between 2000 and 2022. A total of 31,241 abortions were reported in Michigan in 2023, the last year of reporting, with 16 complications observed.