On Thursday, March 20, NWLC (along with 23 other nonprofit organizations) signed onto an amicus brief by the National Partnership for Women and Families in Tennessee v. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, a case challenging the 2024 HIPAA Rule that is intended to strengthen and protect HIPAA’s privacy protections for reproductive care.

The case, in the U. S. district (trial) court in the Eastern District of Tennessee, is one of four similar lawsuits. Multiple states challenged the rule, which is intended to protect patients from retaliation for seeking legal reproductive care. It “prohibits regulated entities from using or disclosing protected health information (PHI) for the purposes of conducting a criminal, civil, or administrative investigation into, imposing liability on, or identifying anyone for the mere act of seeking, obtaining, providing, or facilitating lawful reproductive health care.” Democracy Forward, representing two cities and an organization of providers, has moved to intervene in the case, arguing that the current administration is no longer adequately defending the rule.

The amicus brief opposes the states’ motion for summary judgment. Amici argue that the 2024 Rule falls squarely within the powers delegated by Congress to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and that HHS adequately explained its decision-making. Whatever happens in this lawsuit, the current administration could separately rescind the rule through agency action, but it would have to follow certain legal procedures to do so.

The brief can be downloaded here.