I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3580 

To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act and Public Health Service 

Act to improve the reporting of abortion data to the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 27, 2019 

Mr. NORMAN (for himself and Mr. PALMER) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act and Public 

Health Service Act to improve the reporting of abortion 

data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring Accurate and 

5 Complete Abortion Data Reporting Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Reporting abortion data has been voluntary 

2 in the past, which has not resulted in complete data 

3 being submitted to the Centers for Disease Control 

4 and Prevention. 

5 (2) While the Centers for Disease Control and 

6 Prevention requests specific data points from each 

7 State and the District of Columbia, there is a great 

8 variety in the information collected and published by 

9 the States. 

10 (3) In fact, there is not a single abortion data 

11 point publicly reported for all fifty States and the 

12 District of Columbia. 

13 (4) Even more alarming, three States that to14 gether account for 15 percent of the United States 

15 population of women of childbearing age do not re16 port any abortion data to the Centers for Disease 

17 Control and Prevention. 

18 (5) Accurate statistical data regarding abortion 

19 and those who survive abortion attempts is critical 

20 to public health and policy analysis. 

21 SEC. 3. MEDICAID PAYMENTS FOR CERTAIN FAMILY PLAN22 NING SERVICES AND SUPPLIES CONTINGENT 

23 ON SUBMISSION OF ABORTION DATA TO CDC. 

24 Section 1903 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

25 1396b) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a)(5), by inserting before ‘‘an 

2 amount equal to’’ the following: ‘‘subject to sub3 section (bb),’’; and 

4 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub5 section: 

6 ‘‘(bb) ANNUAL REPORTS ON ABORTION DATA.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

8 as a condition of receiving payment under subsection 

9 (a)(5) with respect to any amount expended during 

10 a year (beginning with the year following two years 

11 after the date of the enactment of this subsection) 

12 for family planning services and supplies described 

13 in section 1905(a)(4)(C) furnished to an individual 

14 described in section 1902(ii) or an individual whose 

15 medical assistance under this title is limited to such 

16 services and supplies furnished pursuant to a waiver 

17 granted under section 1115, each State shall, by not 

18 later than December 31 of the previous year, submit 

19 to the abortion surveillance system of the Centers 

20 for Disease Control and Prevention, with respect to 

21 the year before the previous year, at least abortion 

22 data regarding the mandatory questions described in 

23 section 317U(a)(3)(A) of the Public Health Service 

24 Act. 


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1 ‘‘(2) LATE SUBMISSION OF REPORTS.—With re2 spect to a year, in the case of a State that does not 

3 submit by December 31 of the previous year the 

4 abortion data required under paragraph (1) with re5 spect to the year before the previous year but sub6 mits such data by December 31 of the year, such 

7 State shall continue to receive payment, including 

8 retroactive payment, under subsection (a)(5) with 

9 respect to any amount expended during the year for 

10 family planning services and supplies described in 

11 section 1905(a)(4)(C) furnished to an individual de12 scribed in such paragraph. 

13 ‘‘(3) CERTIFICATION OF ABORTION DATA.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to each 

15 submission of abortion data under this sub16 section, a State shall certify to the Director of 

17 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

18 that such data is accurate. 

19 ‘‘(B) FALSE INFORMATION.—In the case 

20 that the Director of the Centers for Disease 

21 Control and Prevention determines that a State 

22 has knowingly provided false information with 

23 respect to a submission of abortion data under 

24 this subsection, such State may not receive pay25 ment under subsection (a)(5) with respect to 


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1 any amount expended during the first full fiscal 

2 year following such determination for family 

3 planning services and supplies described in sec4 tion 1905(a)(4)(C) furnished to an individual 

5 described in paragraph (1).’’. 

6 SEC. 4. COLLECTION OF ABORTION DATA BY CDC. 

7 The Public Health Service Act is amended by insert8 ing after section 317T of such Act (42 U.S.C. 247b–22) 

9 the following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 317U. ABORTION DATA. 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 

12 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre13 vention (in this section referred to as the ‘Secretary’)— 

14 ‘‘(1) shall maintain a surveillance system to col15 lect aggregate data in a standardized format on 

16 abortions in the United States; 

17 ‘‘(2) shall, as part of such system, create a 

18 standard worksheet to collect data from States on 

19 abortions in the respective States; 

20 ‘‘(3) in such worksheet— 

21 ‘‘(A) shall, at a minimum, include ques22 tions on the variables listed in subsection (b), to 

23 be treated as mandatory questions for purposes 

24 of section 1903(bb) of the Social Security Act; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(B) may include such additional questions 

2 on abortion as the Secretary determines to be 

3 appropriate, to be treated as voluntary ques4 tions; and 

5 ‘‘(4) shall, as part of such system, allow for 

6 cross-tabulation of the variables listed in subsection 

7 (b), including cross-tabulation of maternal age by 

8 gestational age; race and ethnicity by gestational 

9 age; type of abortion procedure by gestational age; 

10 race and ethnicity by maternal age; and race and 

11 ethnicity by marital status; and 

12 ‘‘(5) periodically update the questions in the 

13 worksheet under paragraph (2) and the classification 

14 of such questions as mandatory or voluntary under 

15 paragraph (3). 

16 ‘‘(b) VARIABLES.—The variables listed in this sub17 section are the following: 

18 ‘‘(1) Maternal age in years. 

19 ‘‘(2) Gestational age in completed weeks at the 

20 time of abortion. 

21 ‘‘(3) Maternal race. 

22 ‘‘(4) Maternal ethnicity. 

23 ‘‘(5) Maternal race by ethnicity. 

24 ‘‘(6) The abortion method type. 

25 ‘‘(7) Maternal marital status. 


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1 ‘‘(8) Previous pregnancies of the mother, in2 cluding the number of previous live births, the num3 ber of previous induced abortions, and the number 

4 of previous spontaneous abortions. 

5 ‘‘(9) Maternal residence (State or county). 

6 ‘‘(10) Whether the child survived the abortion. 

7 ‘‘(c) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall 

8 provide technical assistance to States to facilitate and im9 prove the reporting of data to the system under subsection 

10 (a). 

11 ‘‘(d) ANNUAL REPORTING.—The Secretary shall— 

12 ‘‘(1) include, for each calendar year, the data 

13 collected pursuant to this section in a report on 

14 abortion; and 

15 ‘‘(2) publish such report not later than Decem16 ber 30 of the third calendar year following the cal17 endar year covered by the report. 

18 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the term ‘State’ 

19 refers to the several States, the District of Columbia, and 

20 any territory of the United States.’’. 

Æ 


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