TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas' top public health official said Monday that his office will require abortion providers to give the state more details about late-term procedures they perform, a change long sought by anti-abortion activists and one seen by abortion rights backers as a move to further limit such procedures.
Health and Environment Secretary Robert Moser told The Associated Press that his department's interpretation of a law requiring physicians to file reports on each late-term abortion after they are performed is different than how the law has been enforced in the past.
Moser said doctors must spell out the medical reasons for aborting a viable fetus after the 21st week of pregnancy. The law permits those abortions only when the mother's life is in danger or she faces major, permanent harm to her physical or mental health.
Moser said that interpretation is in line with the intent of a 1998 law restricting late-term abortions. He said the Department of Health and Environment will enforce the reporting requirements as providers file their documents with the agency, without changing any state regulations.
"It's pretty straightforward," he said. "We're not looking at changing the forms at all. They're adequate. It's just the information that needs to be provided in there needs to be accurate, just like any other reporting form. That's all we're looking for — accuracy."
The change was welcomed by abortion opponents, who've complained for years that the reporting law hasn't been properly enforced. Mary Kay Culp, executive director of the anti-abortion group Kansans for Life, called it "a long time overdue."
But abortion rights supporters questioned whether Moser can enforce the law differently than in the past without a change in the statute or new administrative regulations. They saw his comments as another change in the political climate after Gov. Sam Brownback, an anti-abortion Republican, took office two weeks ago.
"It sounds like the new KDHE secretary is using his own magic wand," said state Rep. Annie Kuether, a Topeka Democrat who strongly supports abortion rights, adding that she'll be talking to fellow legislators about the change.
Moser said the Department of Health and Environment will work with providers to make sure they understand what information must be reported. The agency will be seeking a specific diagnosis of the problem that will occur as pregnancy continues, identified with the standard medical code for that condition.
"It's a common-sense reading of the law," Culp said. "What he's doing here is what ought to be common practice."
Abortion rights supporters could see the change as a veiled threat to any doctor who might consider performing a late-term abortion. Should the state determine a doctor performed such a procedure without a valid reason, the doctor could be charged with performing an illegal late-term abortion, a misdemeanor that could land the physician in jail for a year.
Yet, neither side is sure how often the change in enforcement will come into play, because neither knows of any physician in Kansas performing abortions past the 21st week of pregnancy since the May 2009 murder of Dr. George Tiller, of Wichita, by an anti-abortion zealot.
"It's a political decision that's been made by somebody," said Peter Brownlie, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, which operates an Overland Park clinic.
The 1998 law restricts when abortions can be performed after the 21st week of pregnancy when the fetus is viable, or capable of "sustained survival" outside the womb without "extraordinary medical means."
The law says that abortions can be performed in such cases only if the life of the pregnant woman or girl is in danger or if she faces "a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function." State officials have interpreted the last phrase — in keeping, they've said with past court decisions — as including mental health.
The same law requires abortion providers to file a report on each late-term abortion, listing the reasons such a procedure is necessary and the basis for the assessment.
"This is a form that requires it to be completed accurately — no different than a death certificate in the need for accuracy — and that's what we're looking for," Moser said. "This is not changing anything at all that's required; it's just adhering to the statutory requirements."
Moser said the department will be examining all types of reports filed by health care providers with the state to see whether they're providing accurate information.
As for abortion reporting, he said, "This is just, apply the law as it was intended."
With Democrats Kathleen Sebelius and Mark Parkinson were governor, the Department of Health and Environment allowed providers to repeat the exact "substantial and irreversible impairment" phrase in the law in their reports, without a more detailed medical diagnosis, arguing it was the only thing legally required.
Moser, who is awaiting confirmation by the state Senate, said he's not discussed the change in how the reporting law will be enforced with Brownback. He also declined to state his personal views on abortion, saying he never did so as a practicing physician in western Kansas, so that patients would confide in him.
Legislators and groups opposed to abortion rights say the intent of the reporting law is to require doctors to spell out exactly what irreversible harm a woman or girl faces to her physical or mental health if the pregnancy continues and how the diagnosis is made. Such information will allow the state to determine whether a doctor is following the law, they argue.
They've also unsuccessfully sought to rewrite the reporting law to prevent state officials from continuing with the interpretation followed in the Sebelius and Parkinson administrations.
Culp noted that Moser made his comments the same day as the annual "March for Life" in Washington, where abortion rights opponents in Congress called for the U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion in Roe v. Wade to be overturned. Saturday was the 38th anniversary of the ruling.
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Kansas Department of Health and Environment: http://www.kdheks.gov/
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