Biden Administration attempts to strengthen private health data protections
The HHS decision comes after a year of disputes over whether prosecutors in abortion-restrictive states have a right to abortion information for their residents
The Biden Administration announced a rule that will protect privacy for those who seek reproductive care.
On Monday, the president released a statement on what is known as the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy. The decision comes after numerous legal scholars and academics raised concerns about how information from abortion-seekers would be sought by prosecutors from states in which the procedure is outlawed.
Xavier Becerra, secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services, said most Americans were frightened their medical information would be shared or misused without their permission.
“This has a chilling effect on women visiting a doctor, picking up a prescription from a pharmacy, or taking other necessary actions to support their health,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is providing stronger protections to people seeking lawful reproductive health care regardless of whether the care is in their home state or if they must cross state lines to get it. With reproductive health under attack by some lawmakers, these protections are more important than ever.”
The new rule prohibits the use or disclosure of private health information when it is sought to investigate or impose liability on individuals, health care providers, or others who seek, obtain, provide, or facilitate lawful reproductive health care.
Last year, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch sent a letter to Becerra that authorities there needed access to information about residents who obtain abortions or gender-affirming care in other states. Attorneys general from 18 different states signed the letter.
“Relying as it does on a false view of state regulation of abortion, the proposed rule is a solution in search of a problem,” Fitch said in the letter. “And it reflects the same distortion of basic legal rules and democratic principles that pervaded abortion matters for decades before Dobbs.”
When I spoke to Adam Greene, a health data expert, last year, he told me healthcare providers could be held in contempt by state courts if they don’t provide the information to law enforcement. However, they could violate HIPAA if they do so.
“It's a confusing mess,” Greene said at the time. “And it's gonna be I think, many years until we see how all of this plays out in the courts. And that leaves healthcare providers in a precarious position because all this ambiguity makes it tougher for them to provide services that put their license at risk.”