The US Department of Health and Human Services will propose a new rule on Wednesday, aimed at safeguarding privacy and prohibiting the prosecution of individuals who seek abortions.
The new rule proposal comes as Vice President Kamala Harris is set to convene an interagency taskforce meeting on reproductive rights at the White House. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra will also attend.
In a call with reporters, senior administration officials previewed the notice of proposed rulemaking from the Biden administration, issued in response to a Texas federal judge’s ruling late last week to suspend the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of medication abortion drug mifepristone.
“Specifically, this NPRM proposes to strengthen privacy protections by prohibiting the use or disclosure of protected health information by regulated entities, such as health insurance plans, providers and others, specifically for a criminal, civil or administrative investigation into proceeding against a person in connection with seeking, obtaining, providing or facilitating reproductive health care where such health care is lawful under the circumstances in which it was provided,” a senior administration official said.
The senior administration official called it a “step further” from existing guidance issued in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s ruling last summer that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the right to an abortion nationwide. The current guidance, still in effect, protects HIPAA privacy rights by not requiring the disclosure of patient information under certain circumstances. But officials said they found that some providers would still “get fearful,” about following the guidance when subpoenaed.
This proposed rule, they said, providers further…
Read the full article here