The administration of US President Joe Biden issued a rule that prohibits the disclosure of a patient’s health information as it relates to his or her reproductive health care.
The new rules are designed to safeguard the privacy of abortion providers and patients seeking the procedure, a move that comes in response to threats from conservative prosecutors who put abortion in their crosshairs.
“No one should use your medical records against you, your doctor, or your loved one alone because you sought or received legal reproductive health care.“Biden’s office noted in a press release.
Under this rule, patients have the right to privacy regarding their medical information, even when traveling to another state for an abortion, in vitro fertilization (IVF), or other types of reproductive health care.
“Today’s rule comes at a time when access to reproductive health care is under attack following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. wade”, expressed the president.
We’ve heard from people seeking or providing care who are having their private medical records weaponized to target them for the seeking lawful reproductive health care, including abortion.
Today, @SecBecerra announced a new rule to protect women’s privacy in post-Roe America. pic.twitter.com/IM8bZfIrxH
— HHS.gov (@HHSGov) April 22, 2024
In the summer of 2022, the United States Supreme Court decided to annul the protection of the right to abortion, in force since 1973, in a historic decision that allows each state to decide whether to maintain or prohibit this reproductive right.
Melanie Fontes Rainer, director of the Office of Civil Rights, said that This rule prevents medical records from being used against people who provide or receive certain types of reproductive health care, even if a patient traveled to another state to receive that care.
The new regulations update the healthy privacy law known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, which dates back to 1996 and did not anticipate today’s uncertain reproductive rights landscape.
Before the new rules come into effect, which won’t happen for at least two months, it will still be legal for organizations to share private health information with authorities investigating crimes.
The current rules and the tense post-Dobbs legal atmosphere around reproductive care sparked an outcry from patients and providers who sought guidance about their legal rights from HHS, officials there said.
The case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, was a judicial litigation that concluded with the landmark ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States on June 24, 2022, in which the Court held that the Constitution of the United States does not contemplate no right to abortion, overturning Roe v. Wade (1973).
Last year, 19 Republican state attorneys general criticized the Biden administration for updating Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules, saying in a letter that the administration sought to “wrest control over abortion from the people by defying the Constitution and Dobbs.”
Biden administration officials undermined that argument Monday, saying the new rules are a major victory for reproductive health patients and providers.
“Many Americans fear that their private health information will be shared, misused and disclosed without permission,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is providing stronger protections for people seeking legal reproductive health care.a, regardless of whether the care is provided in their home state or whether they must cross state lines to obtain it,” he continued.
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