Court Stops Joe Biden From Pushing Doctors to Do Abortions
A federal judge recently blocked new regulatory changes by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that illegally restrict doctors from protecting their patients and reporting abuse related to the harms of abortion and mutilating gender procedures. The changes amend a privacy rule under the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to silence health care professionals from reporting suspected abuse as a way to hinder enforcement of any state laws that ban abortion or experimental drugs and medical mutilation for children.
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A Texas physician, who owns her own private clinic, challenged the changes because she believes that elective abortions harm both the mother and unborn child, and that irreversible gender interventions also harm children. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk sided with the Texas doctor and issued a narrow preliminary injunction against the HHS, which only exempts the physician’s clinic from the new rule while litigation continues.
In April 2024, the HHS published the amended HIPAA privacy rule which specifically excluded unborn children from the definition of “persons.” The HHS also deceptively redefined “public health” to exclude any state authority to deem some aspects of “reproductive health” as detrimental in any way, such as abortion or gender interventions. While HIPAA was enacted to protect against unauthorized disclosure of a patient’s health information, it had explicitly preserved a state’s authority to require the reporting of injury or child abuse. However, these changes, which became effective in June 2024, now prevent doctors from disclosing information to state officials or law enforcement regarding any harm or abuse stemming from abortion or gender procedures.
According to the lawsuit, the HHS has admitted that the amended privacy rule, called the “2024 Rule,” is a direct response the 2022 Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey and empowered states to restrict abortion.
The lawsuit reads, “In other words, HHS promulgated the 2024 Rule in order to obstruct States’ ability to enforce their laws regulating abortion and other laws that HHS deems to fall under the rubric of ‘reproductive health care.’”
The lawsuit also contends that the HIPAA statute specifically preserves state authority to define “public health,” to deem what medical practices are detrimental, and to require disclosures concerning abuse.
Judge Kacsmaryk wrote in his opinion that the new rule implements “limits’ on reporting child abuse “where HIPAA allows none.” He further noted the rule puts doctors in a position to make “perplexing legal judgments” regarding the rule’s “vaguely” defined terms, and if they misread the terms then they could violate federal law or otherwise violate state law when it comes to reporting abuse.
“Congress explicitly forbade HIPAA and its regulations from placing Plaintiffs in such a bind,” wrote Judge Kacsmaryk. The judge concluded that HHS’ 2024 Rule “likely” exceeded “HIPAA’s statutory authority.”
The case is expected to continue legal proceedings until Judge Kacsmaryk issues a final decision.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Doctors take an oath to ‘do no harm’ and should be able to report abuse to protect patients. HIPAA has nothing to do with regulating abortion or experimental gender interventions and this unlawful rule change is just another political attempt to undermine state laws that protect against harmful abortion and dangerous gender ideology. This is another lawless rule from the Biden-Harris administration that should be permanently struck down.”