Back in 2010 the state legislature passed a bill (SB1304) that required clinicians that provide abortion services to report certain data points to the ADHS and talked the agency with writing an annual report. Ever since, the agency has been developing annual reports. Here is the 2020 Arizona Abortion Report, the last report for which data are available.
The report contains more than 15 tables with various statistical and demographic characteristics of abortions performed in Arizona. For example, about 95% of abortions are performed at less than 15 weeks gestation, and important statistic considering that if the territorial law is dismissed by the courts, abortions will be limited to those less than 15 weeks because of the signing of SB1164.
Other meaningful charts in the report document the marital status of the women seeking the abortion as well as the self-disclosed reasons for seeking the abortion. About 4% of abortions were to protect the health of the mother, and Table 7 documents the various maternal characteristics for that category.
Arizona’s 2020 abortion report found that 1,218 of the 13,186 abortions provided in 2020 were among teens (9.3% of the total). By contrast, 1,512 of the 11,438 abortions provided in 2010 were among teens (13.2%).
The Arizona Department of Health Services regulates the 9 clinics that provide abortion services. They – of course – haven’t said anything about what they intend to do with the clinics. Will they send them threatening letters telling them to immediately cease providing abortion services? Will they say nothing? Perhaps Mr. Herrington will disclose more about their intentions this week, but I doubt it.