Texas Challenges Final Rule Boosting Privacy Protections for Reproductive Health Information
- September 06, 2024
Texas is asking a federal court to set aside a Biden administration final rule aimed at strengthening privacy protections for reproductive health information arguing it unlawfully restricts state law enforcement investigations contrary to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in April published the final rule (89 Fed. Reg. 32976) to prohibit the disclosure of protected health information (PHI) related to lawful abortion care. Compliance with the rule is required by December 23.
The modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule are part of the administration’s ongoing efforts to ensure access to reproductive health care in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the federal constitutional right to abortion.
In a press release, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, said the rule unlawfully restricts the circumstances when medical providers may share information with state law enforcement officials. “With this rule, the Biden Administration makes a backdoor attempt at weakening Texas’s laws by undermining state law enforcement investigations that implicate medical procedures,” the release said.
The lawsuit asks the court to vacate and enjoin the April 2024 final rule as well as a rule that went into effect in 2001 “that purports to limit disclosures to State investigators.”
The complaint argues that the rules are contrary to the HIPAA statute, which explicitly preserves state investigative authority. “Moreover, the HIPAA statute gives Defendants no authority to promulgate rules limiting how regulated entities may share information with State governments,” the complaint says.