By Jarrett Renshaw and Ahmed Aboulenein
(Reuters) -The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed new privacy protections to prevent women’s health information from being used to investigate or sue people who obtain or facilitate abortions, senior administration officials said.
The proposal by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is aimed at protecting women living in states where abortion is illegal who travel out of state to have the procedure done – something thousands of women are already doing, research shows.
It is unclear whether the proposed rule would actually stifle criminal investigations. Fears of criminal investigations aimed at out-of-state abortions have grown after Idaho passed a law explicitly restricting some out-of-state travel for abortions.
Major companies including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Amazon.com Inc and Walt Disney Co have said they would pay travel costs for employees seeking abortions out of state and provide reimbursement through company-sponsored healthcare plans, but Republican leaders have threatened retribution.
The proposed rule, which is set to be finalized following a 60-day public comment period, strengthens existing privacy protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) which are binding in all states.
The rule specifically prohibits the “use or disclosure” of private health information by a “regulated entity” for these purposes, according to a fact sheet distributed by the White House, including:
“A criminal, civil, or administrative investigation into or proceeding against any person in connection with seeking, obtaining, providing, or facilitating reproductive health care, where such health care is lawful under the circumstances in which it is provided.”
It also prohibits “the identification of any person for the purpose of initiating such investigations or proceedings, according to the fact sheet.
It was not clear, however, how that would work when pitted against state anti-abortion laws which are a matter of criminal, not healthcare, law.
On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris will host the third meeting of the Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access, an interagency group that has taken on added meaning following a decision by a federal judge in Texas to suspend the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of a key abortion drug.
A string of judicial decisions and a spate of new state laws have banned women from getting abortions in many circumstances in large parts of the country after last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court rollback of Roe vs. Wade.
A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity before the rule was announced, said officials have heard directly from patients and their advocates about privacy concerns.
“They’re scared. They are concerned about their medical information being misused and disclosed, the official said, adding that privacy concerns have had a chilling effect on woman seeking medical help.
Companies also face legal battles ahead.
The federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) covers most health insurance and other company benefit plans and generally preempts state laws on abortion-related coverage. But it does not prevent states from prosecuting plans, sponsors, administrators and their employees in all instances.
(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw and Heather Timmons; Editing by Heather Timmons, Mark Porter and Jonathan Oatis)
