PHOENIX — Gov. Katie Hobbs wants lawmakers to repeal laws that require abortion providers to report details on pregnant women to the state, calling that “government surveillance” of medical decisions.
The governor’s call comes as the Arizona Department of Health Services released its annual report Wednesday spelling out not just the number of abortions performed but various details, ranging from the procedure used and the gestational age of the fetus to the race of the woman and the reason she wanted to terminate a pregnancy.
While the doctors and clinics making the reports know the identities of their patients, those are not furnished to the health department nor included in the public report.
Gov. Katie Hobbs
The Democratic governor said the “invasive” requirement to even gather the information — which is not required of any other medical procedure — is unacceptable.
“This report is an attack on our freedom, is unacceptable, and must be brought to an end,’’ Hobbs said in a written statement. “The government has no place in surveilling Arizonans’ medical decision-making or tracking their health history.’’
Hobbs can’t do this on her own: The reporting requirements are set out in state law, meaning she needs approval of the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Opponent cites public right to know
There, she will get a fight from Cathi Herrod, president of the anti-abortion Center for Arizona Policy, who said collecting the information is squarely within the duties of the health department.
“They say abortion is health care,’’ Herrod said of those who support abortion rights. “Well, if abortion is health care, then is there not a valid reason to know what’s going on with the provision of that health care?’’
Herrod also pointed out that women are free to refuse to answer the questions. And in all cases, the medical providers do not share the names of the women with the state.
Still, she said, just having doctors ask the questions can be helpful.
Consider, Herrod said, a situation where a woman discloses she’s seeking to terminate her pregnancy because she’s being coerced or is the victim of sexual assault. In that case, Herrod said, the abortion provider can give her information on her right to report a crime.
“The appropriate question is, why does Gov. Hobbs not want Arizona lawmakers and the public to know what’s going on with abortion and how to help women,’’ Herrod said.
It remains questionable at best whether the Republican-controlled Legislature will go along.
Hobbs, however, remains adamant that doctors and clinics shouldn’t be asking the questions in the first place.
“Starting a family is a sensitive and personal experience for a woman and her loved ones,’’ she said. “There should be no room for government surveillance and publication of that decision.’’
What the data show
Some of the information collected is strictly statistical.
For example, the report released Wednesday shows there were 12,705 abortions performed in-state in 2023 on Arizona residents. By contrast, there were 77,881 live births among Arizonans.
That number of abortions is the lowest since the state began using the current reporting standards in 2011 — with one exception. In 2022 there were 11,407 abortions performed.
That was the year the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and its pretty much unrestricted right to an abortion, at least through fetal viability, generally considered between 22 and 24 weeks. And for a few months, most abortions in Arizona came to a halt after a judge ruled prosecutors could enforce a territorial-era law outlawing abortion except to save the life of the mother.
The Legislature eventually repealed the territorial law. What has been left since is a law limiting abortions to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy.
That should go away after voter approval in November of Proposition 139, which enshrines the right to abortion in the Arizona Constitution.
But for 2023, it meant that of the 12,705 abortions performed, just 21 were beyond 15 weeks.
By contrast, in 2021 — the last full year year before Roe was overturned — there were 824 abortions after 15 weeks out of 13,896 performed.
Other statistics the health department gathers and reports include, for example, the question asked of women about why they are terminating a pregnancy.
The vast majority of abortions are listed simply as elective. But other reasons cited include a desire not to have children; financial considerations; being victims of domestic violence; and other fetal or maternal health considerations.
A third of women simply declined to answer.
There’s also data about the race and ethnicity of those who get an abortion; whether the woman is married; how much education she has; and the number of times she has been pregnant before; and if she has had prior abortions, and how many.
“Our right to privacy” cited
“The existence of a government registry of pregnancies grossly infringes on our right to privacy,’’ Hobbs said.
Gubernatorial press aide Christian Slater acknowledged that nothing in the report identifies any particular individual.
But he said someone might be able to analyze the data to figure out who has had an abortion, particularly as the report contains information about the residency of a pregnant woman.
For example, there were just eight abortions performed on women from Apache County and just 11 each on women from Mohave and La Paz counties.
Other data show there were six women who had abortion-related complications in 2023, with five of those resulting from abortions performed between 14 and 20 weeks.
The report says 31 minors sought abortions without getting parental consent; judges granted 28 of those.
Legislation to repeal the reporting will be sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton. The Tucson Democrat was the author of legislation earlier this year that led to the repeal of the territorial-era ban on abortions.
What Hobbs is trying to do has the backing of Dr. Jill Gibson, medical director of Planned Parenthood Arizona.
“Our government should not have the right to surveil and maintain records of Arizona women’s personal medical decisions, or those of the doctor providing them care,’’ she said in a prepared statement. But Gibson said it goes beyond privacy.
“As a doctor, I know firsthand how this reporting, mandated by the state legislature, requires providers to take time away from providing actual care to our patients and to instead spend countless hours reporting their private health history and personal characteristics to the state,’’ she said. “This type of reporting is medically unnecessary, and unfairly applied to abortion care.’’
