privacy curtain around hospital bed.

Lessons in Health Data Privacy from the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act

By Katie Gu

The past may hold important lessons for our uncertain future of health privacy for patients, physicians, and hospitals in the face of abortion subpoenas post-Dobbs

In returning the legality of abortion back to states, the Supreme Court’s decision has paved the path towards greater surveillance of sensitive health data contained in patient medical records. This stark increase in privacy risks for individuals seeking reproductive care resembles the shifts in patient privacy protections nearly twenty years ago following the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (PBAB). 

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abortion protest outside supreme court.

Upholding Precedent While Rewriting It in June Medical Services v. Russo

By Mary Ziegler

Before the Supreme Court’s decision in June Medical Services v. Russo, many wondered if the Supreme Court’s new conservative majority would begin to do away with precedents, starting with the 2016 decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. But Chief Justice John Roberts voted with his liberal colleagues that Louisiana’s admitting privileges law could not “stand under our precedents.” And yet he felt curiously free to rewrite the very same precedents he claimed to respect.

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