Washington, DC – Following a November report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detailing a decrease in abortions nationally, the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) released a new report assessing abortion reporting requirements across the country. The CLI report reveals the rampant weaknesses in reporting data from state-to-state and calls on Congress and the states to work with the CDC to improve reporting requirements in order to obtain more complete data and clearer conclusions about abortion trends in the U.S.
“Despite the variety of views about abortion in America, there exists a strong public consensus about making abortion a rare event regardless of its legal status in our nation. Just last month, media and activists were abuzz when a report from the CDC strongly suggested a decrease in the national abortion rate in 2009,” said Chuck Donovan, president of the Charlotte Lozier Institute. “Welcome as that news was, it reminds us that until we have consistent public abortion reporting, we cannot begin to paint a complete picture of abortion trends in the U.S. The process must be improved and accelerated, and the good news is that this can be done and the public interest can be served.
“Recently, states like Arizona and Minnesota have made great improvements to their data collection and dissemination procedures, swiftly obtaining and publishing information at low cost and with full protection of individual privacy. These practices should be emulated by all state and federal policymakers so that we can protect and serve both women and the children they carry.”
The Lozier Institute study can be read in its entirety below:
