Protecting reproductive health care rights and access to care

The County strongly supports the goal of increasing patient access to reproductive health care services, and strengthening patient privacy for those services, particularly where restrictive state laws and fear of disclosure can prevent patients from obtaining medically necessary care.  In support of that goal, we prepared a comment letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support proposed changes to federal privacy laws that would restrict access to sensitive reproductive health information by requiring a unique kind of court order before releasing such information. Consistent with the County’s goal of increasing access to reproductive health care, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ultimately issued more protective privacy regulations, effective June 25, 2024, that will limit access to health information when sought for the purpose of investigating or imposing liability on patients in need of reproductive health care.