Statement of Jocelyn Frye, President of the National Partnership for Women & Families
WASHINGTON, D.C. – March 20, 2025 – “Today, I’m proud to announce that the National Partnership for Women & Families (NPWF) has filed an amicus brief on behalf of 25 reproductive health, civil rights, and social justice organizations in State of Tennessee et al. v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, supporting reproductive health privacy protections.
“We filed an amicus brief because this lawsuit threatens to erode patient privacy and critical reproductive freedoms. Our brief underscores the importance of safeguarding patients’ medical records amid the heightened threat of abortion surveillance and criminalization following the Supreme Court’s overturning of federal abortion rights in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
“It is disturbing and damaging for patients that the Tennessee Attorney General and 14 other states are challenging the legality of the 2024 HIPAA Reproductive Health Privacy Rule. In doing so they seek to take away the protections patients need to trust their health care providers with their sensitive health information and ensure law enforcement cannot access it. Invalidating the 2024 HIPAA Reproductive Health Privacy Rule would eliminate this sorely needed line of defense against people being criminalized for their reproductive health decisions.
“People deserve safety and confidentiality when accessing health care, including reproductive health care. The Tennessee lawsuit along with several other suits by anti-abortion extremists threaten privacy guardrails at a time when reproductive health patients need them more than ever before. Providers should never be pressured to report on the patients who entrust them with their care. However, that would inevitably be the reality for far too many people without the protections of HIPAA. We also know that people of color, people with low-incomes, and immigrants, who are already far more likely to suffer over-surveillance and criminalization by the state, would face the most significant risk.
“If these lawsuits prevail, patients and providers could face greater risk of exposure to criminal investigations and liability for seeking or providing reproductive health care. Chaos and confusion around legal risks in the fallout could have a chilling effect on abortion access and further scare medical professionals away from providing any reproductive health care.
“Left unchecked, these types of attacks may lead to the broader dismantling of patient privacy in other aspects of our health care system, undermining the quality and scope of health care overall. History has shown us that our rights can fall like dominoes when not zealously protected.”
For more information about the stakes of these lawsuits and implications for abortion access, NPWF published an explainer breaking down the threats to the 2024 HIPAA Reproductive Health Privacy Rule.
Read the amicus brief at https://nationalpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/tennessee-v-hhs-npwf-amicus.pdf
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