The Need for a National Abortion Reporting Requirement: Why Both Sides Should Be in Support of Better Data

Abstract

This paper focuses on the status of abortion reporting in the United States and how current data is inadequate. Looking to the two primary collectors of abortion statistics, the CDC and the Guttmacher Institute, this article highlights how both institutions suffer deficiencies and delays with their information gathering and how this is ultimately bad for society. Next, the paper discusses the Supreme Court's treatment of state abortion reporting statutes and how under today's Court, such legislation would likely pass constitutional muster as long as patient confidentiality was maintained. Finally, I discuss potential avenues through which better data can be achieved by Congress, characterized as the command option (legislative mandate), and the bribe option (conditional spending), respectively. I conclude that the bribe option is superior as it avoids concerns of anti-commandeering and allows the states to voluntarily cooperate with federal policy rather than passively resist it.