Oklahoma Bill 1595, New Abortion Law, Patient's Info to Be Public

Patients Rights~another Lost Freedom?

Sherry Tomfeld
Getting an abortion in Oklahoma will require giving women several questions to answer. The answers are to be tallied into statistics. These statistics will become public knowledge. Is Oklahoma's new law killing patient's privacy? The new law goes into effect on Nov. 1st, 2009 due to the passing of bill 1595. The Oklahoma Department of Health will be forced to put the patient's personal information online.

Bill 1595 says the patient's name and address are not to be published. If you live in a small rural town, will people be able to figure out who you are by the information you provide? Are patient's rights the next freedom to fall?

The following is an excerpt from House Bill 1595 and lists some questions that will be asked. Bill 1595 states that doctors are bound by this new law for reporting abortions and they can be fined or stripped of their license for not complying.

Statistical Reporting of Abortion Act, and that such information is
not subject to the Oklahoma Open Records Act.
F. Individual Abortion Form. The Department's Individual
Abortion Form shall be substantially similar to, but need not be in
the specific format of, the following form:
Individual Abortion Form
(TO BE COMPLETED FOR EACH ABORTION PERFORMED)
1. Date of abortion __
2. County in which abortion performed
3. Age of mother _____
4. Marital status of mother
(married, divorced, separated, widowed, or never married)
5. Race of mother
6. Years of education of mother
(specify highest year completed)
7. State or foreign country of residence of mother
8. Total number of previous pregnancies of the mother
Live Births
Miscarriages
Induced Abortions
9. Approximate gestational age in weeks, as measured from the last
menstrual period of the mother, of the unborn child subject to
abortion
10. Method of abortion used:
Suction Aspiration

Oklahoma State Rep. Dan Sullivan, Republican, when interviewed by FOX NEWS implied that keeping these statistics would be useful in targeting places where there were a lot of abortions being performed. Women's rights groups are outraged, saying that the patient's rights are going to be violated.

IS bill 1595 taking things too far? IS bill 1595 a good thing or a bad thing for women wanting an abortion? Even if you are pro life, does bill 1595 cross a personal freedoms line for you? To get the full story by
Cristina Corbin of Fox News go here
. To read the entire bill 1595 go here.

Published by Sherry Tomfeld

Gardening and food preservation are her passion, she has been doing both for 30 years.Working thousands of head of hogs, raising cattle, goats and chickens to being lead cook in a 90 resident nursing home. S...   View profile

9 Comments

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  • CT_Yankee 12/19/2009

    There should be some sort of tacit agreement that each and every patient use the name Jane Doe on the survey, and answer every question unknown. The busybodies can post this garbage to the web, and everyone is happy.

  • Sheryl Young 11/5/2009

    I don't agree with revealing the names. It will add more grief to the woman's long-lasting personal regrets that are bound to come later.

  • Charlotte Kuchinsky 10/22/2009

    What the heck is going on in my home state?

  • Angel Vee 10/22/2009

    ;-);-)

  • Jolynne M Hudnell 10/21/2009

    Regardless of a person's belief about abortion, the information that will be used is WAY too much as you said. If they just want to see what areas have higher abortion rates, then all they need is a clinic's patient numbers.

  • J.C. Grant 10/21/2009

    My level of concern would be directly related to how the statistics are presented. It's situations like this, however, when I'm reminded that I'm more of a Libertarian than anything else.

  • Nikki 10/20/2009

    My first knee-jerk reaction is this is a ludicrous law and is an invasion of privacy.

  • Shanika 10/20/2009

    As it is, I think doctors collect too much personal information. And this seems to completely negate HIPAA. Great report.

  • Rebecca Caroll 10/20/2009

    hmmm, I'll have to read more from the excellent links you posted, but I'm thinking that crosses the line. I don't like that...patients rights need to be protected!

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