To have complete data for state residents, offices of vital statistics in all states have entered into an agreement to share data for statistical purposes. When a report or certificate is filed for a vital event that occurred in Alabama to a resident of another state or in Canada, Alabama notifies that government. Likewise, Alabama receives information and reports about events happening to Alabama residents in other states or in Canada. Data from these out of state events are included in the tabulations of resident data.
Most states send reports of out of state events to the Center for Health Statistics (CHS) on an ongoing basis, and these reports are believed to be quite complete since laws and procedures in other states are quite similar to Alabama's. The exception is reports of induced termination of pregnancy which have different reporting requirements in other states. Florida, a neighboring state, does not have a procedure for reporting Alabama resident induced terminations of pregnancy to CHS. Since it is unknown how many Alabama residents may have these events in neighboring states, the number of reported induced terminations of pregnancy for Alabama residents may be somewhat low.
Sources and Completeness of:
Induced Termination of Pregnancy Data