The Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday that it was proposing to offer stronger health privacy protections for those who receive an abortion.
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April 12 (UPI) -- The Biden administration Wednesday announced that it would offer more legal protections for people who obtain abortions by updating a health privacy law.
Healthcare providers and insurers will be forbidden to turn over information to officials who investigate someone for seeking or providing an abortion, the Department of Health and Human Services said.
The new rule would strengthen the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rule. It covers people who cross state lines to obtain an abortion or qualify for an exception in their own state.
"When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, nearly half a century of precedent changed overnight," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.
April 12 (UPI) -- The Biden administration Wednesday announced that it would offer more legal protections for people who obtain abortions by updating a health privacy law.
Healthcare providers and insurers will be forbidden to turn over information to officials who investigate someone for seeking or providing an abortion, the Department of Health and Human Services said.
The new rule would strengthen the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rule. It covers people who cross state lines to obtain an abortion or qualify for an exception in their own state.
"When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, nearly half a century of precedent changed overnight," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.
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"The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to protecting women's lawful access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion care. President Biden signed not one but two executive orders calling on HHS to take action to meet this moment and we have wasted no time in doing so."
The new rule takes aim at an Idaho law passed last week that makes it a crime for an adult to aid a minor in receiving an abortion. Anyone convicted of committing such a crime can face between two and five years' imprisonment.
"With the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of Roe vs. Wade last summer, the right and duty to establish legal policy on abortion was finally returned to our state democratic process," Republican Gov. Brad Little of Idaho wrote in a letter announcing he had signed HB 242.
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Idaho is one of 12 states enforcing near-total abortion bans with abortion care in North Dakota and Wisconsin unavailable due to legal challenges, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood have filed a lawsuit against the state's law, calling it government overreach and a violation of the First Amendment.
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