AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The U.S. state of Texas has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration to block a federal law that protects women’s medical records from criminal investigation when they cross state lines to obtain an abortion where it is legal.
The lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services seeks to overturn a regulation passed in April. In the suit filed Wednesday in Lubbock, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the federal government of seeking to “undermine” the state’s law enforcement agencies. It appears to be the first lawsuit filed by a state with an abortion ban that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and ending the nationwide right to abortion.
The rule essentially prohibits state or local authorities from collecting medical records related to reproductive health care from providers or health insurers in states where abortion is still legal for civil, criminal or administrative investigations. It is designed to protect women living in states where abortion is illegal.
In a statement, HHS declined to comment on the lawsuit but said the rule “stands on its own.”
“The Biden-Harris administration remains committed to protecting reproductive health privacy and ensuring that a woman’s medical record is not used against her, her doctor, or her loved ones simply because she received the lawful reproductive care she needed,” the agency said.
Texas’ abortion ban, like other states, provides that women seeking an abortion cannot be prosecuted. The ban can be enforced either through a private civil lawsuit or under the state’s criminal laws. Anyone found to have helped a woman obtain an abortion can be punished with up to life in prison.
It is not clear whether public agencies have requested medical records related to abortions. However, the state has requested records related to gender reassignment surgery from at least two out-of-state health centers in the past year. Like many Republican-controlled states, Texas prohibits gender reassignment surgery for minors.
At least 22 Democratic-controlled states have laws or executive orders aimed at protecting medical personnel or patients who participate in abortions from law enforcement investigations in states with bans.
The federal regulation in question is an update to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which prohibits medical providers and health insurers from disclosing medical information about patients, but normally allows law enforcement to access those records for investigations.
A group of Republican attorneys general, all from states with strict abortion laws, had urged the Health and Human Services Department to drop the rule last year when a draft was released. In a 2023 letter to the Health and Human Services Department, the group said the rule would unlawfully interfere with states’ authority to enforce laws.
“With this rule, the Biden administration is making a backdoor attempt to weaken Texas laws by undermining state law enforcement investigations involving medical procedures,” Paxton said in a press release.
Liz McCaman Taylor, senior adviser for federal policy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said federal law has long provided enhanced protections for sensitive health information.
“But Texas is suing now not because it is concerned about its sovereignty, but because it is hostile to reproductive health,” she said.
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Associated Press reporter Jamie Stengle reported from Dallas.
