Protecting the Privacy of Reproductive Health Information After the Fall of Roe v Wade
(Originally published by The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on June 30, 2022)
The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization, eliminating federal protection for abortion rights recognized since 1973 in Roe v Wade, will trigger the adoption and enforcement of numerous state laws banning or restricting abortion. The most pressing concerns for physicians and health care facilities are how to minimize these laws’ adverse effects on patients and provide quality reproductive health care within legal limits.1 Yet, another vital issue also merits attention: How can clinicians and facilities protect their patients—and themselves—from having reproductive health information used to incriminate them?
(Continue reading the opinion essay on JAMA’s page here.)