Induced abortion in Minnesota

The 1998 session of the Minnesota Legislature amended Minnesota’s abortion reporting requirement to include all physicians licensed and practicing in Minnesota who perform abortions and all Minnesota facilities in which abortions are performed (Minn. Stat. § 145.4131-4136).  A reporting form must be submitted to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) for each procedure.

In Minnesota, choosing to have an abortion is a right protected by the Minnesota constitution. You can find additional information at Reproductive Rights and Protections in Minnesota.

Any physician or facility encountering a complication resulting from an induced abortion must submit a reporting form to MDH.

Abortion reporting system

To comply with statutory requirements for reporting abortions in Minnesota, Report of Induced Abortion captures information about the patient and the abortion procedure. 

As of 2022, the information and form for Report of Informed Consent Related to Induced Abortion is no longer being collected.

Facilities filing many reporting forms per year will be required to use this system to submit their reports electronically. However, those physicians, clinics or hospitals who have few reports to submit each year may instead complete a paper copy of the form and mail it to the Minnesota Department of Health for entry by department staff.  These are fillable PDF forms and may either be completed in the PDF document and then printed or they can be printed first and completed by hand.

Web-based reporting system

• Request access: To request access to the reporting system, please call 800-657-3900
• User guide: Web-Based Abortion Reporting System: User Guide (PDF)
• Definitions: Definitions of Termination Methods (PDF)

Downloadable reporting forms and instructions

• Downloadable reporting form: Report of Induced Abortion (PDF)
• Instructions: Report of Induced Abortion: Instructions and Text of Applicable Statute (PDF)
• Definitions: Definitions of Termination Methods (PDF)

History and background of reporting

From the inception of abortion reporting through the 2016 reporting year reporting has been done on paper forms which were mailed to MDH for data entry. In 2017, a system upgrade was deployed for secure web-based reporting, as a module of the Minnesota Registration & Certification system (MR&C).

Facilities and clinics submitting many reporting forms per year are expected to use this system. Individual physicians or facilities reporting few procedures per year or reporting only post-procedure complications may choose to use the web-based system or continue to submit paper forms.

Reporting forms for prior years (pre-2017) can be obtained by calling 800-657-3900.

Annual reports to the legislature

MDH publishes a report to the Minnesota Legislature on the previous year’s abortions by December 31 each year: 

• January-December 2022 (PDF), revised
• January-December 2021 (PDF)
• January-December 2020 (PDF)
• January-December 2019 (PDF)
• January-December 2018 (PDF)
• January-December 2017 (PDF)
• January-December 2016 (PDF)
• January-December 2015 (PDF)
• January-December 2014 (PDF)
• January-December 2013 (PDF)
• January-December 2012 (PDF)
• January-December 2011 (PDF)
• January-December 2010 (PDF)
• January-December 2009 (PDF)
• January-December 2008 (PDF)

Help and assistance

To request access to the web-based abortion reporting system or for more information about abortion reporting in Minnesota, please call 800-657-3900.