Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) has emerged as one of the Democratic party’s leaders fighting to protect health data that could be used in potential abortion prosecutions. The second-term lawmaker, whose district contains parts of San Diego, recently introduced legislation alongside fellow California Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo aiming to tighten HIPAA protections for reproductive health information. The bill would prevent health care providers from divulging information tied to pregnancy termination or loss without consent. While unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled House, the legislation is a marker of where the party stands on the issue post-Roe v. Wade. Ben caught up with Jacobs to discuss her legislation, the work she’s doing with HHS to strengthen data protections and what it’s like to be a millennial in Congress. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What’s the thinking behind the new legislation? In this post-Roe moment, none of our privacy laws are really set up for what we are going through and what society looks like. We need a host of new fixes to make sure that we are not creating a chilling effect for patients who are seeking abortion care and making sure we’re protecting people in states that are criminalizing abortion. It's incumbent on us in the federal government to do everything we can to protect this really sensitive and personal data. Should the Biden administration be doing more to protect this data? We’re actually working with HHS right now on what more they can be doing on their own in order to strengthen HIPAA for abortion access. We’re also working with them to understand what they need from Congress, which is why we introduced the bill, because we know that there are some things HHS can’t do without Congress. HHS has already released guidance, and we’re working with them to turn it into official rulemaking. But in the law enforcement space, they need congressional action, which is why our bill focuses on the piece of HIPAA that allows providers to respond to law enforcement requests, like subpoenas and warrants. Is there any common ground you can find with Republicans? Obviously, the Republican majority is very against abortion rights. But there are a number of privacy-minded Republicans, and we are working with them right now to see what could be possible to get done in the next few years. What should states be doing to safeguard data? This is an issue that the federal government needs to solve. I don’t think it should be on individual people or individual states to do this, especially because we know that data does not care about state lines. But I have been very happy to see states like California and Washington state put in place protections. How should Democrats be messaging on abortion? I am one of the people that was incredibly frustrated by everyone before the November elections talking about how Democrats were talking about abortion too much. I’m a 33-year-old woman. Pretty much the only thing I talk about is who’s having a baby, who’s not having a baby, who wants to have a baby and who doesn’t want to. For many, many Americans, whether or not they have access to reproductive health care, is the kitchen table issue. The more that we highlight the very real impact this has on people, the better. Millennials are a growing group in Congress. What do you have in common? We have a really important, different perspective. For instance, we are a generation that, for the most part, grew up online, so we understand data privacy in a way that other generations don’t. In working on my “My Body, My Data” bill, I had to explain to many of my colleagues that women track their periods and that there are apps that help people track their periods. We’re going to see more bills that reflect what life is like for millennials.
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