Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Donald Trump’s pick for vice presidential nominee, pressured federal regulators last June to kill a privacy rule that prevents police from accessing the medical records of people seeking reproductive services, according to documents reviewed by The Lever. The rule was designed to prevent state and local police in anti-abortion states from using private records to hunt down and prosecute people who cross state lines in search of abortion services.
If the Trump-Vance ticket wins this year’s presidential election, the new administration could rescind the rule protecting abortion records from police investigation.
Project 2025, the right-wing manifesto to reshape the federal government if Trump is reelected, proposes sweeping new surveillance of people seeking abortions.
“Because liberal states have now become sanctuaries for abortion tourism, [the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] should use every available tool, including the cutting of funds, to ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother’s state of residence, and by what method,” notes the plan.
The Biden administration proposed the expanded privacy rule in April 2023 in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and ended federal abortion protections. The proposed rule expanded upon the long-established Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s Privacy Rule, which requires appropriate safeguards to protect individuals’ health information.
While these privacy laws do not usually apply in the case of a criminal investigation, the proposed rule prohibited health officials from divulging records related to reproductive health care — including for fertility issues, contraception, and miscarriages — even if requested by law enforcement.
The following month, Vance and 28 other conservative lawmakers sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra demanding the department withdraw the draft rule. They argued that the Biden administration had overstepped its constitutional bounds and unlawfully infringed on congressional power.
“Abortion is not health care,” they wrote. “It is a brutal act that destroys the life of an unborn child and hurts women.”
A Vance spokesperson did not respond when asked whether Trump would rescind the rule if he’s reelected.
