Texas Abortion Provider Reporting Requirements Bill (HB 2309)

HB 2309 would have required physicians to submit a monthly report to the Department of Health containing information about each abortion performed at the facility without including any identifying information about the physician performing the abortion or the patient.

The bill would have required the report to contain the following information:
(1) whether the abortion facility at which the abortion is performed is licensed under this chapter;
(2) the patient’s year of birth, race, marital status, and state and county of residence;
(3) the type of abortion procedure;
(4) the date the abortion was performed;
(5) whether the patient survived the abortion, and if the patient did not survive, the cause of death;
(6) the period of gestation based on the best medical judgment of the attending physician at the time of the procedure;
(7) the date, if known, of the patient’s last menstrual cycle;
(8) the number of previous live births of the patient; and
(9) the number of previous induced abortions of the patient.

The bill states that the records must remain confidential and may not be released or made public on subpoena or otherwise.

The bill provides that the information may be released (1) for statistical purposes as long as the patient isn’t identified; (2) with the consent of each person, patient, and abortion facility identified in the information released; (3) to medical personnel, state agencies, and courts to enforce this chapter; and (4) to state licensing boards to enforce state licensing laws.

The bill states that a violation of this law is a Class A misdemeanor; that a facility that fails to provide the report may be assessed fines; and that a facility that fails to provide the report six months after the report was due shall have its license revoked.

STATUS

This bill is largely similar to HB 2308, which also failed to pass in 2013.

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