House Committee Rejects Some Changes To Abortion Bill

A House committee rejected attempts Wednesday to scale back some new reporting requirements created by an anti-abortion bill.

The bill would require health care providers to report a long list of complications from abortion, if they occur. Those include anything from blood clots to anxiety. Rep. Sean Eberhart (R-Shelbyville) wanted to simplify that list to: death, moderate to severe pain, or significant, temporary harm.

But Rep. Peggy Mayfield (R-Martinsville) says the more detailed the reports, the better.

“We have better statistics as to what is happening to the women based on what type of medicine they’re taking and where they’re acquiring it,” Mayfield says.

But Eberhart says the state shouldn’t force doctors to ask for all those, in his view, unnecessary specifics.

“That does not foster good, open, and honest communication between the patient and the doctor or the hospital,” Eberhart says.

Another Eberhart proposal would have eliminated one of the bill’s requirements that a doctor who reports abortion complications must include where a woman received an abortion-inducing drug, if applicable.

The committee advanced the full bill, without those changes.