Erica Schwartz, the deputy surgeon general during Trump’s first term, told the Senate Health Committee during her confirmation hearing: “Abortion surveillance is absolutely a critical component of what the CDC is currently doing,” notes Jezebel:
“Abortion surveillance is absolutely a critical component of what the CDC is currently doing,” Schwartz replied. “But I also want to also make sure that certain states are not conflating emergency services and hiding abortions in that emergency services case definition. We need to make sure we’re pulling out true abortions and making sure that we’re really having clear case definitions regarding abortions, so the data is actually accurate.”
Particularly terrifying is the notion that a CDC director-hopeful would ever accuse states of dubiously “conflating” emergency services with abortions. In states with bans, several women have died or been denied treatment because doctors are unable to determine a separation between the two without risking jail time or the loss of their license—often causing life-threatening delays.
Also, after Roe was killed, abortion reporting requirements have become another avenue for surveilling and criminalizing abortion seekers and providers—and a more comprehensive data-collection system was one of the goals listed in Project 2025.