Findings

Congress finds the following: (1) Reporting abortion data has been voluntary in the past, which has not resulted in complete data being submitted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2) While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requests specific data points from each State and the District of Columbia, there is a great variety in the information collected and published by the States. (3) In fact, there is not a single abortion data point publicly reported for all fifty States and the District of Columbia. (4) Even more alarming, three States that together account for 15 percent of the United States population of women of childbearing age do not report any abortion data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (5) Accurate statistical data regarding abortion and those who survive abortion attempts is critical to public health and policy analysis.