Senate confirmation hearings often feature vague promises and artful dodging. But when Erica Schwartz, now director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) that data collection on abortion is a core agency priority, she offered a rare, direct commitment: “Senator, you have my commitment.”
That promise now rings hollow. For the first time since 1969, the CDC has failed to release its annual abortion surveillance report. The 2025 omission is not a minor administrative hiccup—it represents a dangerous break with more than half a century of public health tracking, and it comes at a moment when the post-Dobbs landscape makes such data more critical than ever.
A Historic Gap in a Pivotal Year
The CDC’s abortion surveillance system predates Roe v. Wade. Established in the late 1960s as states began liberalizing abortion laws, it was designed to track abortion-related maternal deaths and complications, profile who seeks abortions, and monitor unintended pregnancy rates. Voluntary state reporting was seen as a basic public health safeguard—not a political weapon.
That changed as abortion became a polarized issue, but the core rationale remains: women and their doctors need complete information about the risks of any medical procedure. The annual report, traditionally published in late November, has been a cornerstone of informed consent. Its absence for 2023 data—the first full year after Dobbs—is especially damaging because the legal landscape was still in flux throughout 2022, with many state restrictions tied up in litigation and injunctions.
Moreover, abortion providers have increasingly turned to telehealth and mail-order medication, often circumventing state restrictions. The 2023 surveillance would have provided the first—albeit imperfect—picture of abortion risk in the new legal reality.
A Pattern of Delay
The missed report is not an isolated incident. The administration has also delayed public release of its review of mifepristone, the medication abortion drug, until March. Both moves contradict the administration’s stated “Gold Standard Science” principle and raise questions about its commitment to transparency.
Public health data cannot be withheld for fear of political misuse. Surveillance informs regulations that protect women from harm. Hiding data forces women to make decisions in the dark, a betrayal of the very mission the CDC is supposed to uphold.
What the CDC Should Do Now
Director Schwartz has both a moral and a professional obligation to release the delayed report and ensure the 2026 edition comes out on time. But she should go further. Congress alone can mandate state reporting, but the CDC can and should set a national standard for what patient-deidentified data states collect.
Given that medication abortions now account for nearly two-thirds of all procedures, the CDC should ask states to report serial and lot numbers of abortion drugs, along with expiration dates, to ensure compliance with federal drug regulations. Even in states with “shield laws” protecting out-of-state prescribers, the CDC should request that states record prescriber details and whether the abortion was completed at a facility or at home—all while protecting patient privacy.
Public health agencies are not political pawns. Schwartz must not sacrifice the CDC’s commitment to data transparency, or the women and providers who depend on it. The stakes are too high for silence.
