9 months ago
23
Republican attorneys general in 19 states are claiming that they have the right to demand private patient records from health care providers in other states, where they have no jurisdiction. That’s the assertion they made in a letter last month to the Biden administration in opposition to a proposed rule to protect patient privacy from them. The only reason those attorneys general want to get their hands on that information is to prosecute people seeking abortions or gender-affirming care, along with anyone assisting them. Fifty congressional Democrats are trying to shut them down to protect Americans’ privacy.
In April, the administration announced it would write new rules to make the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act stronger, ensuring patient and provider information on legal abortion services were safeguarded from forced-birth state law enforcement and local officials. For good reason, because of course that’s what those red state officials immediately moved to do: chase their citizens down in other states where abortion is legal.
In their letter, first reported on by the Mississippi Free Press last week, the Republican officials quote the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned abortion rights, claiming that in accordance with the court, they are simply asserting states’ “legitimate interests” in protecting “prenatal life,” “maternal health and safety,” and “the integrity of the medical profession.” They claim that those concerns stretch across state lines. The letter also threatens yet another lawsuit: “The proposed rule is at odds with the Constitution,” the letter says, arguing that it would “threaten States’ ability to exercise their longstanding medical oversight authority.”
