Kaine Cosponsors Legislation to Protect Reproductive and Sexual Health Data
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee cosponsored the My Body, My Data Act, legislation that would create a new national standard to protect reproductive and sexual health data by minimizing the information collected and retained and preventing that information from being disclosed or misused. Currently, few protections exist to prevent personal reproductive health data or information about people seeking reproductive health services, from being collected, retained, or disclosed to third parties.
“Every woman should be able to seek medical care—including reproductive health care—without the fear of their personal health information being used against them,” said Kaine. “This bill would help ensure women feel safe when seeking care and help protect their privacy.”
Approximately one third of American women use mobile apps to track their menstrual cycles. Because the information collected by these apps is not protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), online companies are able to process and store this data at their own discretion. Digital information such as data from menstrual tracking apps, search histories, text messages, and location data could be subpoenaed and used as evidence to punish those seeking and providing reproductive health care in states with abortion restrictions. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, 20 states have total or near total abortion bans, which puts people who are receiving, seeking, or facilitating reproductive health care at risk of having their personal health data weaponized against them by third-parties and law enforcement agencies.
The My Body, My Data Act would address this problem by:
- Limiting the personal reproductive and sexual health data that can be collected, retained, used, or disclosed to only what is needed to deliver a product or service;
- Protecting personal data collected by entities not currently covered under HIPAA, including data collected by apps, cell phones, and search engines;
- Requiring regulated entities to develop and share a privacy policy outlining how they collect, retain, use, and disclose personal reproductive health information;
- Creating a private right of action to allow individuals to hold regulated entities accountable for violations;
- Providing additional consumer protections, including the right to access, correct, or delete personal data; and
- Including a non-preemption clause that allows states to provide further protection for reproductive and sexual health privacy.
Kaine has long supported efforts to protect reproductive health care. Last year, Kaine urged the Biden Administration to strengthen federal privacy protections under HIPAA to broadly restrict providers from sharing patients’ reproductive health information without their explicit consent—particularly with law enforcement or in legal proceedings over accessing abortion care. Kaine introduced the bipartisan Reproductive Freedom for All Act, which would codify the essential holdings of Roe v. Wade and related cases protecting women’s rights to access abortion and contraception.
The bill is led by Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR). It is cosponsored by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tina Smith (D-MN), and Peter Welch (D-VT). Companion legislation was introduced in the U.S. House by Representative Sara Jacobs (D-CA-51).
The bill was endorsed by Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), NARAL Pro-Choice America, Physicians for Reproductive Health (PRH), National Partnership for Women & Families, National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), National Abortion Federation, Catholics for Choice, National Council for Jewish Women, Feminist Majority, Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity (URGE), and Indivisible.
The full text of the bill is available here.
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