New Biden HHS rule makes it more difficult to investigate people who violate state abortion bans

By lauraharris // 2024-04-30

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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued privacy protections for women seeking abortions by banning the disclosure of protected health information related to reproductive health. The final rule, called Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy, provides patients with a right to privacy on their medical information. This applies to patients who travel to another state to obtain certain services, such as birth control, abortion, IVF and other types of reproductive healthcare. The rule strengthens the privacy provisions under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009. Melanie Fontes Rainer, director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), stated in a news conference that the rule effectively bars the use of medical records to incriminate individuals involved in providing or receiving specific forms of reproductive healthcare. (Related: Report: 76 Christian universities promoting ABORTION and Planned Parenthood.) "This rule prohibits those regulated by HIPAA – health care providers, health plans, clearing houses and their business associates – from using or disclosing a person’s protected health information to conduct an investigation into or impose liability on any person for merely seeking, obtaining, providing or facilitating lawful reproductive health care, including abortion," said Rainer. "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 continued. "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." "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 concluded.

Former HHS official warns Biden administration's new rule will hamper abortion-related law enforcement

Meanwhile, Roger Severino, the former HHS OCR director under the administration of former President Donald Trump, explained the implications of the new rule in an opinion piece he wrote for The Federalist titled "Biden Admin Threatens To Jail Doctors Who Assist Law Enforcement Investigating Abortions." "Law enforcement can no longer gather critical evidence of illegal abortions possessed by doctors until they provide critical evidence of illegal abortions to those same doctors, including abortionists who are the target of the investigation," warned Severino. "Imagine you are a doctor in Idaho treating a patient suffering from severe uterine bleeding, a common side-effect of chemical abortion drugs. You learn your patient was otherwise in good health but an abusive boyfriend that impregnated her had ordered abortion drugs off the internet and given them to her at an extremely high dose 'just to be sure,'" wrote Severino. "Because the events occurred in a pro-life state, it means the boyfriend (though not the mother) has clearly violated state laws protecting unborn children from abortion. A week later you get served a duly authorized search warrant for medical records by the local sheriff investigating the illegal abortion. What do you do?" "Well, according to the Biden rule, HIPAA prohibits doctors and hospitals from disclosing information about 'lawful' abortions in response to any civil or criminal investigations inquiring about the legality of the abortions themselves," continued Severino. "The regulation then adds that all abortions, no matter where performed, must be presumed lawful unless and until law enforcement can show that the abortions they are investigating are unlawful." Check out Abortions.news for more stories related to the murder of the unborn. Watch the full episode of the "Health Ranger Report" with Mike Adams and Susan Swift as they discuss the dismantling of the abortion cartels. This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

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Former HHS official warns Biden administration's new rule will hamper abortion-related law enforcement

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