Bill would ask women to detail abortion rationale

Women seeking abortions in Arizona might soon be asked to give their doctors a more detailed reason for why they want to end their pregnancy.

Can she not afford a child? Does she not want children? Was she raped? Did she or her husband have an extramarital affair? Was she abused by the would-be father?

Under a bill proposed by Republican state lawmakers, physicians would have to report an answer to the ‘Why?’ to the state Department of Health Services after they perform an abortion.

Doctors will be required to select at least one reason. The bill lists 11 potential reasons, including those above and whether the woman’s emotional or physical health are in jeopardy.

If the woman refuses to answer, a doctor must indicate that in the report to the Health Department.

On Wednesday, a committee in the state Senate was set to consider the bill, Senate Bill 1394. The bill is sponsored by powerful Republicans from both chambers of the Legislature. Its primary sponsor, Sen. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, did not respond to requests for comment.

Supporters stress that doctors would be required to keep patients’ names and other identifiable information confidential.

Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy, a powerful antiabortion advocacy group, said SB 1394 is simply about collecting better data to “help improve women’s health.”

Her organization advised lawmakers writing the bill.

“Better data means better service,” Herrod said, dismissing complaints that the bill is intended to discourage women from seeking abortions.

Herrod said having better data about why women seek abortions will help the state know what resources they might need.

But opponents say the question is designed to make women feel ashamed or fearful. They also worry other provisions in the bill will discourage doctors from performing abortions.

Jodi Liggett, vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood Arizona, said because abortion is legal, women don’t need to explain their reason to the government.

“It reads like something that’s designed to have a chilling effect,” Liggett said of the bill. “(That question is) offputting and shaming to patients, and it’s designed to be. Let’s not have any doubt about that.”

Under current state law, which was passed in 2010, doctors are required to report to the Department of Health Services whether an abortion is “elective or due to maternal or fetal health considerations.”

SB 1394 would require doctors to provide more detailed information about the reasons for an abortion, especially those that would fall under the elective category.

Unlike past years — when conservative lawmakers pushed to restrict the actual medical procedure of an abortion — SB 1394 is the only high-profile GOP abortion-related measure at the Legislature this year.

Herrod said the effort to expand Arizona’s abortion-reporting law is modeled after legislation approved in Minnesota and Oklahoma.

The bill would also require doctors to report more information about any medical complications that result from an abortion. It would require doctors to list any specific medical problems a woman faces afterward.

Such complications are rare:In 2016, 13,170 Arizona women received abortions in the state; 33 of them experienced complications, according to the Health Department.

The bill also would require doctors to file a new form with the state about the “informed consent” briefings they have with any patients seeking an abortion.

Under Arizona’s “informed consent” law, a physician must give a woman a variety of information about the potential health risks and alternatives to abortion. They must also give the patient a description of the fetus’ characteristics at the time.

Liggett said the end goal of SB 1394, like many anti-abortion laws, is to make the regulations so “burdensome” that doctors won’t want to provide abortions.

“If you want less abortion, there is a kinder and more productive way to go about this,” she said, “and that would be to provide meaningful access to birth control for anybody who needs it.”

The bill “reads like something that’s designed to have a chilling effect . ... Let’s not have any doubt about that.”

Jodi Liggett Vice president of external affairs, Planned Parenthood Arizona