Washington, DC — Following the Biden administration’s effort to strengthen reproductive health privacy, a group of Republican AGs now want police to investigate people for out-of-state abortions. Jezebel’s Susan Rinkunas reported, “In April, the Biden administration proposed a change to medical privacy laws that would ban doctors and nurses from reporting suspected abortions to law enforcement. Now, a group of 19 Republican attorneys general is asking them to withdraw that change so the cops in their states can keep going after formerly pregnant people.” 

Jezebel continues, “Under current HIPAA rules, it’s legal—though unethical—for healthcare workers and insurance companies to share abortion information with police when they believe a crime has been committed or when they receive a subpoena. The Biden administration wants to make that illegal, but Republican AGs are formally objecting. All 24 Democratic AGs support the new HIPAA rule…”

MSNBC also reported on the issue, writing, “…for several GOP state attorneys general, there’s an alternative approach: They want the authority to seek private medical records from other states as a way of checking up on their constituents.”

“All told, a total of 19 state attorneys general have signed on to a joint letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, making the case for being able to access out-of-state medical records — not just for abortion, but also for gender-affirming care.”

During The Rachel Maddow Show earlier this week, Mini Timmaraju, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said, “…It’s not shocking as they’re losing the public opinion war on abortion, they’re pivoting and trying to conflate gender-affirming care attacks with abortion care.” Timmaraju added, “In Mississippi we know we have folks, the [GOP] AG is currently up for reelection and she’s going to be in a tough race. So this is them fear mongering against some of the most vulnerable Americans to try to score points in their increasingly desperate base.”

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