Their letter<\/a> to the head of the U.S. Department of
\nHuman Services, Xavier Becerra, said that the U.S. faces a reproductive health
\ncare crisis with states banning or limiting care and passing legislation to
\npunish patients and providers.<\/p>\n“Our nation faces a crisis in access to reproductive
\nhealth services, and some states have already begun to investigate and punish
\nwomen seeking abortion care,” the letter said. It is critical that (Health
\nand Human Services) take all available action to fully protect women’s privacy
\nand their ability to safely and confidentially seek medical care.”<\/p>\n
It said the department should take action to update current
\nprivacy laws to ensure they expressly name privacy protections in connection
\nwith reproductive rights care.<\/p>\n
“To safeguard the privacy of women\u2019s personal health
\ncare decisions and ensure patients feel safe seeking medical care, including
\nreproductive health care, we urge you to quickly initiate the rulemaking
\nprocess to strengthen privacy protections for reproductive health
\ninformation,” the letter said. <\/p>\n
The senators want the federal law that protects the
\nprivacy of medical records to make it clear that records are not to be shared
\nwith law enforcement or with officials involved in civil or criminal
\nproceedings related to abortions.<\/p>\n
The letter was signed by 29 senators, including Wyden,
\nMerkleyand Washington\u2019s Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, all Democrats.
\nThe only senator not a Democrat who signed the letter was Sen. Bernie Sanders,
\nan independent of Vermont who caucuses with the Democrats.<\/p>\n
The letter said that legislators and prosecutors across the
\ncountry are trying to enforce abortion bans by investigating patients and
\nphysicians. Both Texas and Idaho passed near-total abortion bans that
\ncriminalized the procedure, opening providers and patients up for prosecution.
\nLast month, a federal judge paused a portion of Idaho\u2019s law, saying it can\u2019t
\ncriminalize the procedure in emergency situations.<\/p>\n
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June,
\nthe Biden administration has pledged to do what it can to protect abortion
\nrights. Also in June, Becerra said he would work to better protect patient and
\nprovider privacy. <\/p>\n
The letter said the patchwork of state abortion bans has
\ncaused confusion among providers about whether they have to turn over medical
\nrecords to state or local officials. <\/p>\n
“This confusion fundamentally threatens women\u2019s health,
\nas patients may delay or avoid seeking the care they need out of fear their sensitive
\nhealth information could be weaponized against them. In recent weeks, states
\nhave investigated and sought to punish patients and providers for seeking and
\nproviding abortion care,” the letter said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Abortion remains legal without any restrictions in Oregon.
\nSince passage of abortion bans, Oregon and other states that protect abortion
\nrights have faced a surge in demand from out-of-state patients seeking
\nabortion care. At the state level, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and
\nlegislators started work this summer to ensure Oregon medical providers aren\u2019t
\nprosecuted for performing abortions for women from other states. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nearly 30 U.S. senators, including Oregon’s Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, asked the federal government Tuesday to ensure that the identities of women seeking reproductive health care remain private. Their letter to the head of the U.S. Department of Human Services, Xavier Becerra, said that the U.S. faces a reproductive health care crisis with states banning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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