Senators Call for Privacy Rule Revisions to Protect Reproductive Health Information
- September 16, 2022
Senate Democrats are pressing the administration to take immediate action to strengthen protections for reproductive health information under the Health Insurance Portability Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule.
In a September 13 letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, 29 Democrats and Independent Bernie Sanders (VT), called on the agency to “update the HIPAA Privacy Rule to broadly restrict regulated entities from sharing individuals’ reproductive health information without explicit consent, particularly for law enforcement, civil, or criminal proceedings premised on the provision of abortion care.”
Since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June, “the new patchwork of state abortion bans has caused widespread confusion among health care providers over whether they are required to turn over patients’ health information to state and local law enforcement,” the letter said. “This confusion fundamentally threatens women’s health, as patients may delay or avoid seeking the care they need out of fear their sensitive health information could be weaponized against them,” according to the lawmakers.
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in June issued new guidance aimed at helping patients, as well as health care providers, understand federal privacy protections for reproductive health information following the Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
But the lawmakers said that guidance does not go far enough and urged HHS to take additional steps, including strengthening education on and enforcement of federal health privacy protections.