Olivia James, a spokesperson for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, said in an email that physicians will comply with the law without violating Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations. Ultrasounds sent will only include the clinic’s name — not the patient’s or the obstetrician’s — and will be destroyed after two years.
“Abortion clinics in North Carolina were only getting inspected once every five to six years,” said Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the N.C. Values Coalition. “Inspecting them every year is part of making sure that the abortion industry is abiding by the rules and protects the health of women.”
She said the law is meant to keep abortion providers honest by ensuring abortions were not performed after 20 weeks — the legal restriction without a medical emergency.
“The state of North Carolina has made a public policy decision that babies after 20 weeks have rights. They have the right to live,” she said.
But Martha Isaacs, a former co-chairperson of the UNC chapter of Students United for Reproductive Justice, said ultrasound records are already available to state officials.
“(The law is) disguised as something that could prevent medical fraud, but that isn’t necessary at all because state officials were already able to go into abortion clinics and review medical charts,” she said.
Sarah Eldred, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic — which operates clinics in four states including North Carolina — said she sees the law’s political motivations.
“These are private images from a woman’s personal medical file, and it is completely inappropriate to demand that health care providers turn copies over to the state for government examination, no matter what decision a woman makes about her pregnancy,” Eldred said.
