Texas sues to get access to women's medical records

Texas sues to get women’s, transgender kids’ medical records from other states

What you probably already know: Texas has filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court in Lubbock, Texas that aims to challenge federal rules that prohibit investigators from obtaining the medical records of people who travel out of state to obtain abortions. The lawsuit takes on privacy regulations put in place in 2000 and then clarified in April that prohibits doctors and medical facilities from disclosing medical records for criminal or civil investigations.

Why? Texas’ abortion ban is among the most severe in the country and pregnant people seeking abortions and those who aid them can face extreme punishment, including life in prison. Texas isn’t the only state seeking to punish people who cross state lines for abortions: Alabama is also following this lawsuit closely. Texas is also using the lawsuit to try to block parents from taking their children across state lines to obtain gender-affirming care. Gender transition surgery and hormone therapy is illegal in Texas for minors.

What it means: The lawsuit specifically seeks records from gender-transition organizations in Washington state and Georgia, and could launch a long fight over medical privacy laws that could wind up in the Supreme Court. The fact that the Supreme Court earlier this year overturned a law that gave broad regulatory authority to federal agencies will also come into play, as Texas is arguing the Department of Health and Human Services doesn’t have the authority to determine how widely to enforce federal privacy laws.

What happens now? The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas has been actively fighting the state’s abortion restrictions, and many states have enacted laws that shield people and their doctors from other states’ investigations, but a federal ruling could overrule state-by-state shield laws. Meanwhile, more than 171,000 people traveled out of state to obtain abortions last year, some traveling thousands of miles to obtain care.

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