WH announces new privacy-focused actions in wake of recent abortion ruling

What’s new: The White House announced a series of new actions the Biden administration will take as it attempts to protect patient privacy in the wake of a Texas federal judge’s decision last week to ban mifepristone, a drug used for medication abortion.

What they’re saying: “I do believe that America is facing a healthcare crisis after the Dobbs decision, and then given what has happened most recently in the court in Texas,” Vice President Kamala Harris said before at a meeting with the Reproductive Healthcare Access task force this afternoon. “So we convene yet again to discuss the work that our administration has done and will continue to do to stand for the rights of all individuals to make decisions about their own bodies and their lives.”

Here are a few of the WH’s new actions:

  • The Department of Health & Human Services proposed a rule that would strengthen privacy protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) that would prohibit doctors, other health care providers and health plans from disclosing information related to reproductive health care to investigate, sue or prosecute an individual receiving or those involved in providing abortion care.

  • The Education Department issued guidance to over 20,000 school officials to remind them that, with certain exceptions, they must obtain written consent from eligible students or parents before disclosing personal identifiable information from students’ education records, which may include student health information.

  • The Federal Communications Commission launched a new guide for consumers on best practices for protecting their personal data on mobile phones.

In related news: A group of dozens of pharmaceutical stakeholders, including companies and companies executives across the United States filed a “friend of the court” brief challenging the decision, according to a White House official.

The executives argued the decision would have a ripple effect beyond medication abortion that would extend across the FDA’s program for drugs intended to treat serious and life-threatening diseases and conditions.

240 congressional Democrats signed a separate amicus brief on Tuesday in support of the Biden administration’s appeal of the decision. And as this item was going to press, 69 congressional Republicans — including 58 House members and 11 senators — filed their own brief asking the appeals court to uphold the district court ruling.

House Dems call for a hearing: Meanwhile, all 23 Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter to Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Health Subcommittee Chair Brett Guthrie to request an immediate hearing on the decision, which is likely to go unfulfilled.

The E&C Committee has jurisdiction over the Food and Drug Administration and the nation’s drug approval process.

“Given the implications of this decision, we believe it is important for the committee to hear from experts about how the outcome of this case attempts to undermine the drug approval process, restrict access to an FDA-approved medication, and placed ideology, politics, and judicial activism above science,” the E&C Democrats wrote.

whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements…

whitehouse.gov
FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces Actions to Protect Patient Privacy at the Third Meeting of the Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access | The White House

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration will announce new actions to safeguard patient privacy at the third meeting of the Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access with Vice President Harris. These announcements build on actions that the Administration has taken to protect privacy and access to a…

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