In the Biden administration’s latest salvo against the Dobbs decision, on Monday HHS finalized HIPAA regulations that directly attack pro-life state laws and place innocent doctors in the crossfire.
I was the nation’s HIPAA regulator under President Trump, so I can speak with some authority on this matter. HIPAA regulations are painstakingly balanced protecting patient privacy across a multitude of weighty interests including research, public health, treatment efficacy, cost containment, and notably, law enforcement. For decades, HIPAA rightly got out of the way whenever courts validly authorized search warrants of medical records. But new Biden regulations have flipped this long-standing arrangement and doctors now risk incarceration if they comply with a valid warrant that seeks records related to “reproductive health care,” defined to include abortion, among other procedures.
While abortionists are cheering this unprecedented shield against civil and criminal investigation, normal health care providers are put in an impossible position.
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.” 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
