By Jeanne Gawdun, Kansans for Life Director of Government Relations
A bill to improve the data reported by abortion facilities and providers to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and ensure its timely release has been passed by the Kansas legislature and sent to Governor Laura Kelly.
House Bill 2749 was passed in the Kansas House of Representatives on March 7 by a vote of 81-39 and by the Kansas Senate on March 26 by a vote of 27-13.
The legislation puts into statute some of the current KDHE abortion reporting regulations including the woman’s age, race, state of residence and marital status, and the methods of abortion used but also adds that additional data on the reasons women choose abortion be reported to the KDHE.
Abortionists will be required to submit this data to the KDHE twice a year, instead of annually, and the agency is directed to publish its statistical abortion report within 30 days of the end of each reporting period.
Kansas legislators have become increasingly frustrated with the KDHE’s delays in the last few years in releasing its annual abortion reports to the public. Historically, preliminary abortion reports have been made public in March of the year following the reporting period, yet the 2022 numbers were not released until June 2023.
By contrast, in October 2023, an abortion advocacy research organization published numbers for Kansas from January – June 2023, showing the state on track to having close to 20,000 abortions in 2023,1 while the numbers from the KDHE have yet to be released.
The most frequently used data on why women have abortions is the 2004 results from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, which states that “Understanding women’s reasons for having abortions can inform public debate and policy regarding abortion and unwanted pregnancy. Demographics over the last two decades highlight the need for a reassessment of why women decide to have abortions.” 2
We agree.
Opponents of HB 2749 claim to have concerns about protecting the privacy of women who are being asked their reasons for having an abortion. Statistical abortion data reported to the KDHE has no patient-identifying information and health data is protected under strict privacy protection statutes.
What is very concerning is the patient information policy by Planned Parenthood Great Plains (PPGP). In its HIPAA policy under “Fundraising Activities” it reads: “We may use health information about you to contact you in an effort to raise money for our not-for-profit operations.” 3
As abortion promoters continue lawsuits to strip Kansans of long held legal protections — including the essential right to medical informed consent – the legislature has a modest opportunity to obtain data for future consideration. While abortion supporters are happy with the self-serving, selective and non-transparently collected reports from the Guttmacher Institute, serious health policy should not rely on such collections.
Notes:
1 https://societyfp.org/wp-