New CDC Director Committed to Abortion Data Tracking at Confirmation
Dr. Erica Schwartz was confirmed as CDC director on August 6, 2026, making her the first Black woman to lead the agency. She filled a seat that had sat vacant for nearly a year after her predecessor, Susan Monarez, lasted only 29 days before being removed following conflicts with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Over vaccine science.
Schwartz’s confirmation hearing in July included an exchange that reproductive rights advocates are now flagging. When Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, who has called for a national ban on the abortion pill mifepristone, pressed Schwartz on whether she would commit to collecting detailed abortion data nationwide, she did not hesitate.
“Abortion surveillance is absolutely a critical component of what the CDC is currently doing.”
Dr. Erica Schwartz, CDC Director-Nominee, Senate Confirmation Hearing, July 2026
She went further. Schwartz said she would ensure that certain states are not “conflating emergency services and hiding abortions in that emergency services case definition.” That statement signals an intent to scrutinize how states categorize abortion-related care in their reporting, with particular focus on blue states that have declined to submit data.
The CDC’s Abortion Reporting System Is Currently Voluntary
The CDC’s Abortion Reporting System has never required state participation. Several large states with legal abortion access, including California and Maryland, do not submit data. Hawley framed this gap as obstruction during the hearing, claiming abortion numbers are “going way up” nationally.
Reproductive health researchers have long noted that incomplete data from non-reporting states makes national estimates imprecise, but the Guttmacher Institute, which conducts independent abortion counts through provider surveys, has continued to publish national figures. The issue is not a data void. It is a policy question about who controls the data and how it is used.
A CDC director with a stated commitment to expanding surveillance and closing state reporting gaps has direct administrative power to pressure states, redesign reporting definitions, and share data with other federal agencies, including the Department of Justice.
What You Can Do Now
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Call your senators at (202) 224-3121 and ask them to oppose any CDC rulemaking that mandates state abortion data reporting. Voluntary participation has protected patient privacy for decades. Ask your senator to hold oversight hearings on how Schwartz intends to implement her surveillance commitment.
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Contact the Senate HELP Committee, which oversees the CDC. Chair Bill Cassidy’s office can be reached at (202) 224-5824. Tell the committee to require Schwartz to testify publicly about her specific plans for the Abortion Reporting System and how patient data will be protected from law enforcement use.
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Find your state health department and ask what your state’s current abortion reporting policy is and whether the state attorney general will resist any new federal mandate. Fourteen states currently enforce total or near-total abortion bans. States with legal abortion access can push back on federal data demands.
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Sign onto your state’s data privacy coalition. Organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation track federal reproductive data policy. Ask them for state-specific guidance on data protection laws that could shield patients from federal surveillance.
Sources
The Guardian: Dr. Erica Schwartz Confirmed as CDC Director, Pledges Abortion Surveillance CDC: National Abortion Surveillance Program Overview Guttmacher Institute: Abortion Incidence and Service Availability in the United States EFF: Reproductive Rights and Digital Privacy Resources