S.B. 376 & S.B. 377 – Sen. Rick Jones
H.B. 4592 – Rep. John Reilly and H.B. 4593 – Rep. Bronna Kahle
Current Status
S.B. 376 & 377 were introduced on May 10, 2017 and referred to the Senate committee on Health Policy. H.B. 4592 & 4593 were both introduced on May 4, 2017 and referred to the House Health Policy Committee. S.B. 376 & H.B. 4592 are identical bills as are S.B. 377 & H.B. 4593.
Description
P.A. 208 of 1999 requires doctors who treat a woman suffering from an abortion complication to report it to the state health department. There were 26,395 abortions in Michigan in 2016 and only 37 reported complications. The law is obviously not being followed as the reported rate of complications is .001%. The Citizens Accountability Act would allow any individual who has knowledge of a woman being treated for an abortion complication to file a “Notice of Compliance” regarding Public Act 208. this notice would be filed simultaneously with the physician or facility treating the complication, the abortionist if he or she did not treat the complication, and the state Department of Community Health. Because the current law does not require medical examiners to report deaths caused by abortion complications, and because a woman died from an abortion complication in 2015, a second bill was introduced to require reporting by medical examiners as well as treating physician. S.B. 377 and H.B. 4593 will require county medical examiners to report abortion complications,
Background
P.A. 208 and 1999 was passed in order to hold abortion providers to the same standards that other doctors are held and require them to report all complications from abortion. Doctors are required by law to report complications, omissions and accidents to the Department of Community Health. Abortion providers had not previously been required to report any complications, so studies have show abortions as being extremely safe with very few complications. Even with the reporting law, the absurdedly low number of reported complications allow abortion proponents to site the alleged safety of abortion.
There have been numerous reports of ambulances arriving at abortion clinics by sidewalk counselors, Operation Rescue and 40 Days for Life volunteers, yet the complication rates reported to the state remain consistent. This bill will seek to remedy the unrealistically low complication rates being reported by allowing those citizens with actual knowledge of a complication to report it.
History
Shortly after the reporting requirement contained in P.A. 208 of 1999 became effective, it was evident that the abortion providers and emergency room physicians were not complying with the law. Versions of the Citizens Accountability Act have been introduced for several legislative sessions. Due to P.A. 499 of 2012 which requires abortion clinics to be licensed and inspected, we are hopeful that the Citizens Accountability Act will pass this session. In addition, a young woman died in 2015 as a result of an abortion complication. Her death highlights the fact that abortion is never safe for the unborn child and is often not safe for the woman.