NC Anti-Abortion Bill Would Force Doctors To Send Private Medical Records to the state.

[madfloridian]

This is really getting out of hand.

Anti-Abortion Bill Would Force Doctors To Send Private Medical Records, Including Images, To The State


Reproductive rights supporters urge Gov. McCrory to veto proposed abortion restrictions

CREDIT: Planned Parenthood South Atlantic

A piece of anti-abortion legislation currently advancing in North Carolina contains an unusual provision that critics say could be used to intimidate doctors who provide abortion services after the first trimester.

Under HB 465, physicians would be required to report detailed information about miscarriages and abortions to North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services if their patient’s pregnancy ends after 18 weeks.

“A physician who advises, procures, or causes a miscarriage or abortion after the eighteenth week of a woman’s pregnancy shall record all of the following: the method used by the physician to determine the probable gestational age of the unborn child at the time the procedure is to be performed; the results of the methodology, including the measurements of the unborn child; and an ultrasound image of the unborn child that depicts the measurements,” the legislation stipulates.

Proponents of reproductive rights are worried that’s specifically designed to target abortion doctors, leaving them vulnerable to potential lawsuits from state officials who may allege they performed an abortion on a fetus that’s too far along. There’s also some concern that keeping a file of ultrasound images in the state health department would raise issues of privacy and doctor-patient confidentiality.

“When I first read the bill, this was the provision that frightened me the most,” North Carolina Sen. Terry Van Duyn (D), who’s currently the Democratic Whip, told ThinkProgress in an interview. “It seems to be all about intimidating physicians. The state legislature is setting them up for potential prosecution. I don’t care what it says about privacy in the bill — we know what the end game is.”

[shenmue]

1. The uterus is not a criminal

[madfloridian]

2. Starting to sound a lot like El Salvador.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/3397

Scary stuff.

[murielm99]

3. Illegal.

HIPAA.

[okaawhatever]

4. K & R nt

[SheilaT]

5. I don't understand why doctors

aren't simply refusing to obey such laws.

Or to put it another way: Where are the doctors? Where is the AMA? Why are they just rolling over and allowing such nonsense?

[madfloridian]

7. Good point.

I've wondered about that also.

[hollysmom]

6. when they said they were for smaller government,

they meant one that would fit up through the vagina and into the uterus.

[MiniMe]

8. Violates HIPPA

The federal law should trump the state law in this case I think.

[jmowreader]

9. It does

Ya think if we were talking about restricting people's Second Amendment rights the Republicans would be up in arms? (Pun not intended.)

Of course they would, but they are just fine with taking away women's 1st and 14th Amendment rights.

[madfloridian]

10. I would think so.

Wonder if they will try to pass it anyway?

[PeaceNikki]

11. But but but Roe v Wade is still the law, so we should relax, says a DUer...

[FloriTexan]

12. It's way out of hand. Kick & Rec!