Ohio’s state budget is in the hands of the state's Senate.
The budget includes a provision from House Republicans that would require doctors to collect more information about the abortions they perform, and for that information to be showcased in a new, public facing database.
Advocates against the move say now’s the time to reach out to state senators to oppose the measure.
State Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Westlake) said the changes could violate the medical privacy of people who undergo abortions and demonize the procedure.
“Any kind of action in this nature to further create public lists, to ask for more information should be deeply concerning to everyone because this is the strategy of a death by a thousand cuts," Sweeney said.
Sweeney said the provision is an attempt for lawmakers to undermine the passage of abortion protections in a constitutional amendment.
"Yes, they can't legally undermine the Ohio Constitution and outright just ban abortion as they have attempted to do in the past, but there's other ways that they could try to harass, demonize and actually find out who these women are," she said.
Proponents of the move argue it's just about collecting data, and that the proposed law wouldn’t collect identifying information such as women's names.
Mike Gonidakis, president of the anti-abortion organization Ohio Right to Life, said the way the state presents abortion data now isn't good enough. He said he prefers the new requirement that the information be disclosed online in a new dashboard, much more frequently than it is currently, in annual reports.
“Everything is still happening via paper, and when the abortion report comes out on Oct. 1 of every year, which the law requires, it's for the previous year's information. So the 2024 numbers aren't for 2024, they were for 2023, so the information is stale," Gonidakis said earlier this month.
But Jaime Miracle, with Abortion Forward, a group that supports abortion rights, argues the new reporting requirements would be unconstitutional.
“Our ballot initiative, the Ohio Reproductive Freedom Amendment (which passed in 2023) says that you can't discriminate against patients or providers for providing reproductive healthcare, and by requiring this reporting only for abortion procedures and medication abortion provided to patients. It is discriminatory," Miracle said.
Sweeney agrees.
"I think it's a real possibility that this is something that ends up in the courts, because when you ask for more information to be publicly posted and you're asking for more information, especially in a small county or even in my county (Cuyahoga). It is likely that somebody could start putting those puzzle pieces together," Sweeney said.
The law would also track what type of abortion the person had and if the person is an Ohio resident, or a resident of a different state.
Sweeney said the merits of the issue should be debated during the normal procedures for a new law, separately from the budget.
Ohio Republicans have banned the creation of a list of firearm purchases or owners in the state.
Lawmakers are expected to vote on a final budget bill in June.
