Montana Code 50-20-709. Reporting on chemical abortions
50-20-709. Reporting on chemical abortions. (1) For the purpose of promoting maternal health and adding to the sum of medical and public health knowledge through the compilation of relevant data, a report of each chemical abortion performed must be made to the department on forms prescribed by the department. The reports must be completed by the facility in which the abortion-inducing drug was provided, signed by the qualified medical practitioner who provided the abortion-inducing drug, and transmitted to the department within 15 days after each reporting month.
Terms Used In Montana Code 50-20-709
- Abortion: means the act of using or prescribing an instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance, device, or means with the intent to terminate the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman, with knowledge that termination by those means will with reasonable likelihood cause the death of the unborn child. See Montana Code 50-20-703
- Adverse event: means an untoward medical occurrence associated with the use of a drug in humans, whether or not considered drug-related. See Montana Code 50-20-703
- Associated medical practitioner: means a person authorized under 50-20-109 to perform an abortion who has entered into an associated medical practitioner agreement. See Montana Code 50-20-703
- chemical abortion: means a medicine, drug, or any other substance provided with the intent of terminating the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman with knowledge that the termination will with reasonable likelihood cause the death of the unborn child. See Montana Code 50-20-703
- Complication: means an adverse physical or psychological condition arising from the performance of an abortion, including but not limited to uterine perforation, cervical perforation, infection, heavy or uncontrolled bleeding, hemorrhage, blood clots resulting in pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis, failure to actually terminate the pregnancy, incomplete abortion, pelvic inflammatory disease, endometritis, missed ectopic pregnancy, cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest, renal failure, metabolic disorder, shock, embolism, coma, placenta previa in subsequent pregnancies, preterm delivery in subsequent pregnancies, free fluid in the abdomen, hemolytic reaction due to the administration of ABO-incompatible blood or blood products, adverse reactions to anesthesia and other drugs, subsequent development of breast cancer, death, psychological complications such as depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, and sleeping disorders, and any other adverse event. See Montana Code 50-20-703
- Department: means the department of public health and human services provided for in 2-15-2201. See Montana Code 50-20-104
- Facility: means a hospital, health care facility, physician's office, or other place in which an abortion is performed. See Montana Code 50-20-104
- gestational age: means the time that has elapsed since the first day of the woman's last menstrual period. See Montana Code 50-20-703
- Medical practitioner: means a person authorized under 50-20-109 to perform an abortion in this state. See Montana Code 50-20-703
- pregnancy: means the female reproductive condition of having an unborn child in the uterus. See Montana Code 50-20-703
- Qualified medical practitioner: means a medical practitioner who has the ability to:
(a)identify and document a viable intrauterine pregnancy;
(b)assess the gestational age of pregnancy and inform the woman of gestational age-specific risks;
(c)diagnose ectopic pregnancy;
(d)determine blood type and administer RhoGAM if a woman is Rh negative;
(e)assess for signs of domestic abuse, reproductive control, human trafficking, and other signals of coerced abortion;
(f)provide surgical intervention or who has entered into a contract with another qualified medical practitioner to provide surgical intervention; and
(g)supervise and bear legal responsibility for any agent, employee, or contractor who is participating in any part of a procedure, including but not limited to preprocedure evaluation and care. See Montana Code 50-20-703
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
- Unborn child: means an individual organism of the species homo sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of being born alive as defined in 1 U. See Montana Code 50-20-703
- United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
(2)A report must include, at a minimum, the following information:
(a)identification of the qualified medical practitioner who provided the abortion-inducing drug;
(b)whether the chemical abortion was completed at the facility in which the abortion-inducing drug was provided or at an alternative location;
(c)the referring medical practitioner, agency, or service, if any;
(d)the pregnant woman’s county, state, and country of residence;
(e)the pregnant woman’s age and race;
(f)the number of previous pregnancies, number of live births, and number of previous abortions of the pregnant woman;
(g)the probable gestational age of the unborn child as determined by both patient history and ultrasound results used to confirm the gestational age. The report must include the date of the ultrasound and gestational age determined on that date.
(h)the abortion-inducing drug or drugs used, the date each was provided to the pregnant woman, and the reason for the abortion, if known;
(i)preexisting medical conditions of the pregnant woman that would complicate the pregnancy, if any;
(j)whether the woman returned for a follow-up examination to determine completion of the abortion procedure and to assess bleeding, the date and results of the follow-up examination, and what reasonable efforts were made by the qualified medical practitioner to encourage the woman to return for a follow-up examination if the woman did not;
(k)whether the woman suffered any complications and, if so, what specific complications arose and what follow-up treatment was needed; and
(l)the amount billed to cover the treatment for specific complications, including whether the treatment was billed to medicaid, private insurance, private pay, or another method, including charges for any physician, hospital, emergency room, prescription or other drugs, laboratory tests, and other costs for treatment rendered.
(3)Reports required under this section may not contain:
(a)the name of the pregnant woman;
(b)common identifiers, such as a social security number or driver’s license number; or
(c)other information or identifiers that would make it possible to identify, in any manner or under any circumstances, a pregnant woman who has obtained or seeks to obtain a chemical abortion.
(4)A qualified medical practitioner who provides an abortion-inducing drug to a pregnant woman who knows that the woman experiences, during or after the use of the abortion-inducing drug, an adverse event shall provide a written report of the adverse event within 3 days of the event to the United States food and drug administration via the medwatch reporting system, to the department, and to the state board of medical examiners.
(5)(a) A medical practitioner, qualified medical practitioner, associated medical practitioner, or other health care provider who treats a woman, either contemporaneously to or at any time after a chemical abortion, for an adverse event or complication related to a chemical abortion shall make a report of the adverse event to the department on forms prescribed by the department. The reports must be completed by the facility in which the adverse event or complication treatment was provided, signed by the medical practitioner, qualified medical practitioner, associated medical practitioner, or other health care provider who treated the adverse event or complication, and transmitted to the department within 15 days after each reporting month.
(b)The report must include, at a minimum:
(i)the information required under subsections (2)(a) through (2)(j) and (2)(l); and
(ii)information about the specific complications that arose, whether an emergency transfer was required, and whether any followup treatment was needed, including whether additional drugs or medications were provided in order to complete the abortion.
(6)The department shall provide, in accordance with 5-11-210, a comprehensive annual statistical report for the legislature based on the data gathered from reports under this section. The aggregated data must also be made available to the public by the department in a downloadable format.
(7)The department shall summarize aggregate data from the reports required under this part and submit the data to the U.S. centers for disease control and prevention for the purpose of inclusion in the annual vital statistics report.
(8)Reports filed pursuant to this section must be deemed public records and must be available to the public in accordance with the confidentiality and public records reporting laws of this state. Original copies of all reports filed under this section must be available to the state board of medical examiners, state board of pharmacy, state law enforcement officials, and child protective services for use in the performance of their official duties.
(9)Absent a valid court order or judicial subpoena, the department or any other state department, agency, office, or employee may not compare data concerning chemical abortions or abortion complications maintained in an electronic or other information system file with data in any other electronic or other information system, the comparison of which could result in identifying, in any manner or under any circumstances, a woman obtaining or seeking to obtain a chemical abortion.
(10)Statistical information that may reveal the identity of a woman obtaining or seeking to obtain a chemical abortion may not be maintained by the department or any other state department, agency, office, employee, or contractor.
(11)The department shall communicate the reporting requirements of this section to all medical professional organizations, medical practitioners, and facilities operating in the state.