Watchdog group asks 5 attorneys general to investigate crisis pregnancy center privacy practices

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

April 23, 2024, 11:06 AM EDT


A progressive watchdog group sent letters Tuesday asking attorneys general in five states to investigate the privacy practices of crisis pregnancy centers, arguing they could be misleading patients with claims that sensitive medical data is protected by health privacy laws, according to copies of the letters obtained by NBC News.

While the letters don’t allege misuse of private health information the pregnancy centers collect, they ask the attorneys general to investigate what they use the information for and whether crisis pregnancy centers are using it to further anti-abortion goals.

The letters, sent by the Campaign for Accountability, allege that the centers, which try to dissuade pregnant women from seeking abortions, gather sensitive and private medical information as part of their appointment scheduling processes. The letters asked the attorneys general of Idaho, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington to use their investigative power to probe why crisis pregnancy centers are gathering and retaining sensitive medical information and what they do with it — and potentially charge the centers with violating state consumer protection laws.

The centers, which provide counseling and services for women coping with unplanned pregnancies, say on their websites that they comply with the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA, as a promise that the information is protected and kept confidential. However, because the centers offer services for free, they are not legally bound by federal health data privacy laws, creating a privacy risk that could be exploited in the wake of efforts to criminalize abortion, according to the letters.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/watchdog-group-asks-5-attorneys-general-investigate-crisis-pregnancy-c-rcna148188

[Lonestarblue]

1. These centers are not healthcare providers and they should not be allowed to collect medical or personal information.

They are the biggest scam around with the sole purpose of scaring vulnerable women into not having an abortion by telling them that abortions cause cancer and infertility. Their goal is not to help women, it is to delay access to the safest form of abortion with pills, thus forcing more women who cannot afford more costly surgical abortions to give birth.

[raising2moredems]

3. Give birth to a hopefully caucasian baby..

That "caring organizations" can sell. I would so love to see a law that:
1 - creates a national waiting list for prospective adoptive parents - background checks required
2 - has an age limit (Kay Bailey Hutchinson!!!) - off the newborn list and at the top of adoption list from foster care system
3 - $5K limit on "fees" to adopt a newborn - baby selling is quite profitable. Catholic "services" was charging $5K in 1976 - wanna bitch about inflation - yeah, white baby prices.
4 - free birth control pills

[duhneece]

2. I'll check later

….but I hope New Mexico is one.

[mahina]

4. They are so deceptive and cruel. I am glad of this closer look.

They prey on young women who don't have much money and are vulnerable by pretending to have services available. They prosletyze and traumatize us when we can't fight back. Many wouldn't be able to push their bs aside when it was made plain.