A new mandate requiring the state to track abortions by juveniles in Georgia was significantly expanded Monday by the Senate, and would now also require any doctor performing an abortion to report it to the state.
House Bill 555, sponsored by state Rep. Joyce Chandler, R-Grayson, was originally meant to require the Juvenile Court and Administrative Office of the Courts to compile and deliver statistics on girls 17 and younger who seek an abortion without notifying their parents.
State health officials are already required to keep track of those numbers, but Chandler has said the additional reporting mandate in the bill would help the state keep more accurate records. Chandler originally wanted the annual report completed by Feb. 28, but the Senate Health and Human Services Committee changed that date to March 15.
But during the Senate’s floor debate, however, GOP lawmakers made an additional change, expanding state law that requires reporting only be done by health facilities licensed as abortion clinics by the state. The change would mandate all doctors, including those in private practice, to report on abortions they perform.
State Sen. Bruce Thompson, R-White, called that additional requirement a "holistic approach…toward knowing what's happening in the state." He said the state still would not require other personal information such as women's names to be reported.
That answer was met with derision by many of the chamber's Democrats, who opposed the change. "Should we ask doctors to report how many vasectomies they perform?" asked state Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta.
With the changes, the bill now goes back to the state House for its review.
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