Topeka ? Kansas’ top public health official said Monday that his office will require abortion providers to give the state more details about late-term procedures they perform, a change long sought by abortion opponents and one likely to be seen by abortion rights supporters as a move further limit such procedures.

Health and Environment Secretary Robert Moser told The Associated Press that his department’s interpretation of a law requiring physicians to file reports on each late-term abortion after they are performed is different than how the law has been enforced in the past.

Moser said doctors must spell out the medical reasons for aborting a viable fetus after the 21st week of pregnancy. The law permits those abortions only when the mother’s life is in danger or she faces major, permanent harm to her physical or mental health.

Moser said that interpretation is in line with the intent of a 1998 law restricting late-term abortions. He said the Department of Health and Environment will enforce the reporting requirements as providers file their documents with the agency, without changing any state regulations.

“It’s pretty straightforward,” he said. “We’re not looking at changing the forms at all. They’re adequate. It’s just the information that needs to be provided in there needs to be accurate, just like any other reporting form. That’s all we’re looking for — accuracy.”

The change would be welcomed by abortion rights opponents, who have complained for years that the reporting law hasn’t been adequately enforced.

But abortion rights proponents would likely view the change as a veiled threat to any doctor who would consider performing a late-term abortion. Should the state determine a doctor performed such a procedure without good reason, the doctor could be charged with performing an illegal late-term abortion, a misdemeanor that could land them in jail for a year.

The 1998 law restricts when abortions can be performed after the 21st week of pregnancy when the fetus is viable, or capable of “sustained survival” outside the womb without “extraordinary medical means.”

The law says that abortions can be performed in such cases only if the life of the pregnant woman or girl is in danger or if she faces “a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.” State officials have interpreted the last phrase — in keeping, they’ve said with past court decisions — as including mental health.

The same law requires abortion providers to file a report on each late-term abortion, listing the reasons such a procedure is necessary and the basis for the assessment.

“This is a form that requires it to be completed accurately — no different than a death certificate in the need for accuracy — and that’s what we’re looking for,” Moser said. “This is not changing anything at all that’s required; it’s just adhering to the statutory requirements.”

With Democrats Kathleen Sebelius and Mark Parkinson were governor, the Department of Health and Environment allowed providers to repeat the exact “substantial and irreversible impairment” phrase in the law in their reports, without a more detailed medical diagnosis, arguing it was the only thing legally required.

Moser is an appointee of new Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, who’s long been a strong opponent of abortion. But Moser said he and Brownback have not discussed the reporting law.

Anti-abortion legislators and groups say the intent of the law is to require doctors to spell out exactly what irreversible harm a woman or girl faces to her physical or mental health if the pregnancy continues and how the diagnosis is made. Such information will allow the state to determine whether a doctor is following the law, they argue.

They’ve also unsuccessfully sought to rewrite the reporting law to prevent state officials from continuing with the same interpretation.

Abortion rights supporters say such reporting requirements are designed to be an additional burden for physicians and to discourage them from performing such procedures. They’ve also noted that the late Dr. George Tiller’s clinic in Wichita was the only one in Kansas to acknowledge performing late-term abortions, and Tiller was murdered in May 2009.