Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration's newly proposed rule that restricts access to medical reproductive health records from criminal investigations about women who cross state lines to seek abortion.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) modified the provisions under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Historically, HIPAA allowed the sharing of personal health information (PHI) in specific cases, such as public health investigations or law enforcement investigations. But the new rule would limit the disclosure of PHI if it pertains to reproductive health care. (Related: Nebraska Supreme Court greenlights hearing of a pro-abortion ballot initiative.)
The Biden administration claimed at the time that the rule would safeguard women's reproductive health privacy.'
However, Paxton said the rule would only obstruct the ability of the state to investigate potential criminal activities related to abortion, such as illegal procedures or malpractice following the 2022 Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The 2022 Supreme Court decision overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the power to regulate abortion to individual states.
"This new rule actively undermines Congress' clear statutory meaning when HIPAA was passed, and it reflects the Biden administration's disrespect for the law. The federal government is attempting to undermine Texas' law enforcement capabilities and I will not allow this to happen," Paxton said.
In turn, Paxton filed a lawsuit against the HSS, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and other officials of the Biden regime in the Federal District Court in Lubbock, Texas, to block the new rule.
Pro-life advocates: HHS rule "a solution in search of a problem"
HHS has declined to comment on the pending litigation regarding the rule but maintains that the regulation "stands on its own." They argue that the rule would safeguard the rights of women and their medical privacy.
"The Biden-Harris administration remains committed to protecting reproductive health privacy and ensuring that no woman's medical records are used against her, her doctor, or her loved one simply because she got the lawful reproductive care she needed," the HHS said.
Supporters of the law also believe that the rule will prevent women from being targeted for receiving lawful reproductive care.
However, pro-life advocates argue that this concern is unfounded. Texas' "heartbeat law," one of the strictest abortion restrictions in the country, explicitly prohibits the prosecution of women who undergo the procedure. Section 171.206 (b)(1) of the law makes it clear that women cannot be prosecuted for having an abortion performed on them.
Moreover, a June 2023 letter of several pro-life state attorneys general to Becerra criticized an earlier version of the rule and labeled it "a solution in search of a problem." They argued that there is no active effort to punish women who seek abortions, as the Biden administration claims. The letter also warned that restricting access to medical information could harm women by making it harder to hold doctors accountable if they perform illegal or unsafe abortions.
Just like Paxton, the other attorneys general also raised concerns about the possibility of obstructing investigations into child abuse cases. They argued that the broad interpretation of "reproductive health" could make it difficult to access crucial information in abuse cases where reproductive health services might be involved.
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