The Associated Press reported Monday that the Biden administration has completed a rule that will stop Republican-led states with strict limits on reproductive freedom from getting the medical records of people who seek abortions in other states.
Jen Klein, head of the White House Gender Policy Council, said at a press conference that no one’s medical records should be used against them, their doctor, or a loved one just because they legally sought or got reproductive health care.
The rule was first suggested in April 2023. It clarifies that medical providers cannot give police the medical information of someone who ends a pregnancy in another state, as required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.
According to 19th News, a nonprofit news organization that covers women’s issues, Alabama’s Republican attorney general said last year that his office has the power to prosecute anyone who breaks the state’s abortion ban by going to another state for medical care. However, no one has been charged under this alleged authority.
In a White House fact-sheet, “the rule would prevent an individual’s information from being disclosed to investigate, sue, or prosecute an individual, a health care provider, or a loved one simply because that person sought, obtained, provided, or facilitated legal reproductive health care, including abortion.”
