We all know that reproductive rights are under attack.
What is less well known are all the things that Biden and Harris are doing to protect our rights.
One example is a new rule to protect the privacy of those seeking reproductive health care, issued just a few weeks ago. As reported by CNN:
Patients have a right to privacy when it comes to their medical information, even when they travel to another state for an abortion, IVF, birth control or other types of reproductive health care, federal officials declared in a new rule.
The final rule, called HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy, was announced Monday and prohibits the disclosure of a patient’s health information as it relates to reproductive health care. It also strengthens privacy protections for that patient, their family and their doctors who are providing or facilitating the care.
This means that the rule prevents medical records from being used against people for providing or receiving certain types of reproductive health care — even if a patient traveled to another state for that care, Melanie Fontes Rainer, director of the Office for Civil Rights, said in a news conference Monday.
That’s right. This rule will make it illegal for a bright red state to punish someone for having an abortion in a neighboring state. In an article last month, the Washington Post explains why the new protections matter so much to both patients and providers:
It covers women who cross state lines to legally terminate a pregnancy and those who qualify for an exception to their state’s abortion ban, such as in cases of rape, incest or a medical emergency.
Under previous rules, organizations were allowed to disclose private medical information to law enforcement in certain cases, such as a criminal investigation. Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services said they had heard from patients and providers who were confused about their legal risks or had even deferred care amid GOP threats in the nearly two dozen states with abortion restrictions.
And this is part of Biden and Harris’s bigger plan to do as much as possible to protect people’s access to reproductive health care:
The final rule serves as one part of an ongoing effort by the Biden-Harris administration to protect access to reproductive health care after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.
“Each and every American still has a right to their privacy, especially when it comes to their very private, very personal health information,” Becerra said Monday. “Under federal law, you have rights to your privacy. That’s what today is about.”
Melanie Fontes Rainer of the civil rights office emphasized that related rights are covered too:
“If a person receives reproductive health care, such as a pregnancy test or treatment for an ectopic pregnancy, and that reproductive health care is lawful in the state where the care is received, the information about the care cannot be disclosed or used by the health care provider or health plan for an investigation, or to impose liability by law enforcement on the patient or the provider,” she said.
“And if the reproductive health care like contraception is protected, required or authorized by federal law, including the Constitution, that may also not be used or disclosed based on this rule.”
Overall, “no one should have to live in fear that their conversations with their doctor or that their medical claims data might be used to target or track them for seeking lawful reproductive health care,” Rainer said.
Is there still more work to be done? 100%! Lots more work. But Biden has done so much more than many people guessed could be done. He deserves a lot of credit. AND he deserves to be re-elected.
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