We know Republican Rep. Bill Zedler thinks the new abortion reporting requirements he's "requested" from the Texas Department of State Health Officials are necessary, but does anyone besides Bill Zedler think so? The abortion providers to which RH Reality Check spoke this week question the necessity of and intentions behind the new requirements, and the DSHS itself can't seem to articulate why the new rules are needed.

The proposed requirements are twofold: first, they would require clinics to submit more, and more personal, information about women getting abortions, and second, they would require individual doctors to report any "complications" from abortions within twenty days of the procedure. The requirements don't define "complications" or give doctors providing safe abortion care guidance on what might constitute a "complication."