The Biden Administration is issuing new regulations designed to protect women and their health care providers from law enforcement investigations when performing abortions or other reproductive procedures that are lawful in the states where they’re performed.

The rules, announced this week by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS), comes as conservative states not only ban or severely restrict abortions but also, in some cases, are trying to make it illegal for women in those states to travel elsewhere where such procedures are lawful.

Under the directive, doctors, hospitals, clinics, and other providers are barred from disclosing protected patient health information to law enforcement agencies or others that may request it as part of an investigation into the providers or their patients. It aims to give women seeking abortions, contraception, and IVF treatment more protections protection when seeking out-of-state health care.

It also extends protections to family members or health care providers, who also are law enforcement targets in some states that have banned abortions.

“Many Americans are scared their private medical information will be being shared, misused, and disclosed without permission,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “This has a chilling effect on women visiting a doctor, picking up a prescription from a pharmacy, or taking other necessary actions to support their health.”

The government “is providing stronger protections to people seeking lawful reproductive health care regardless of whether the care is in their home state or if they must cross state lines to get it,” Becerra said, adding that “with reproductive health under attack by some lawmakers, these protections are more important than ever.”

The rules are being incorporated into the Health Insurance Portability Act’s (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, according to HHS.

Changes Brought on by Dobbs

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 50-year-old Roe v. Wade ruling in 2022, 14 states have instituted total or near-total abortions bans, most without exceptions for such cases of rape or when the mother’s life is in danger, while another seven have abortion ban after anywhere from six to 18 weeks.

That includes Arizona, where there is a 15-week ban now but where the state Supreme Court upheld a Civil War-era law banning abortion, which is due to go into effect later this month. In addition, in Florida, the timeframe for abortions will drop from 15 to six weeks. Some states, such as Texas, also allow criminal prosecution of doctors who perform abortions.

The patchwork of abortion laws and threats by some conservative states to legally pursue woman who cross state lines to get the procedure and the doctors in those states that perform the procedure have caused confusion and fear, according to

“Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, providers have shared concerns that when patients travel to their clinics for lawful care, their patients’ records will be sought, including when the patient goes home. Patients and providers are scared, and it impedes their ability to get and to provide accurate information and access safe and legal health care,” said Melanie Fontes Rainer, director of HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR). “Today’s rule prohibits the use of protected health information for seeking or providing lawful reproductive health care and helps maintain and improve patient-provider trust.”

New Rules Broached Last Year

OCR in 2023 published proposed changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule to deal with the changes brought by the overturning of Roe v. Wade, including the way that private health information might be used. The agency received more than 30,000 comments on the proposal.

Not all of it was positive, with attorneys general from 19 conservative states in a letter to Becerra accusing the Biden Administration of pushing a “false narrative” that some states “are seeking to treat pregnant women as criminals or punish medical personnel who provide lifesaving care. Based on this lie, the Administration has sought to wrest control over abortion back from the people in defiance of the Constitution and Dobbs.”

It was through the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.

Privacy is Key

The new 291-page directive, which goes into effect in 60 days, prohibits the use or disclosure of such information when law enforcement agencies want it to investigate or impose liability on people, health care providers, or others seeking reproductive care that is lawful where the care is given. In addition, the provider, health plan, or others need to get signed proof that the information being requested isn’t for these prohibitive reasons. The organizations also need to update their notice-of-privacy practices to reflect the new rule.

Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, applauded the new rules, saying in a statement they not only protect the private information of women seeking care but also ensure they can be open with their providers about the care they’ve received without it fear that a state can use that information against them in an investigation or criminal proceeding.

“We are in the middle of a public health crisis, where politically-motivated lawmakers hostile to our rights and freedoms are attacking every facet of reproductive health care, from abortion access to birth control,” McGill Johnson said. “This is not complicated: Your personal health care data should never be used against you. Not by prosecutors, not by lawmakers, and not by private citizens who have been encouraged to enforce abortion bans.”