An Act To Require the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention To Publish Abortion Statistics
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §2706, sub-§2 is amended to read:
2. Statistical research. The state registrar may permit the use of data contained in vital records for purposes of statistical research. Such data shall may not be used in a manner which that will identify any individual.
A. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention shall republish on its website all of the State’s annual abortion vital statistics that were previously published on the department's website and that covered all years through 1999. The abortion vital statistics must be in the same format that was previously published, including a breakdown of abortion procedures by the number of weeks of gestation beginning with less than 9 weeks and ending with 20 or more weeks.
B. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention shall update the annual abortion vital statistics on its website to include the years 2000 to 2004. The abortion vital statistics published under this paragraph must be the same abortion vital statistics that were provided to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for those years pursuant to subsection 3 and that the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published as this State's abortion vital statistics for those years.
C. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention shall continue to maintain and publish on an annual basis the abortion vital statistics in the format described in paragraphs A and D and shall publish the abortion vital statistics on its website within 12 months following the year reported.
D. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention shall continue to publish annually on its website all abortion vital statistics as previously published, including a breakdown of abortion procedures by weeks of gestation and by procedure. The breakdown must include a separate category for each type of procedure reported and the total number of each procedure as reported by the number of weeks of gestation.
All procedures, including suction curettage and dilation and evacuation must be reported and categorized separately.
The term “gestation” must be categorized in the same manner as it is categorized for purposes of the State's abortion reporting form.
summary
This bill requires the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to republish, update and maintain the State’s annual abortion vital statistics and make the vital statistics available on its website. The report must include information on the categories of abortion performed and the number of weeks of gestation.