"A crucial win for the Unborn" = that's what pro-lifers are calling the result of a long-running legal battle in Texas. State Attorney General Ken Paxton (pictured) has declared victory in his years-long fight against a Biden-era guidance that sought to limit hospitals’ sharing of information pertaining to abortions or “gender transitions” from investigators trying to enforce state laws.
In its final year, the Biden administration issued a rule change to the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, to greatly limit the sharing of information pertaining to so-called “reproductive health care.” The move was made in response to a wave of pro-life laws enabled by the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which former President Joe Biden had been intent on countering with a “whole-of-government” campaign to preserve so-called “reproductive access.”
Paxton’s office sued, arguing the rule was meant to “obstruct States’ ability to enforce their own laws on abortion and other laws that HHS deems to fall under the rubric of ‘reproductive health care.’” He said it “actively undermines Congress’s clear statutory meaning when HIPAA was passed, and it reflects the Biden Administration’s disrespect for the law. The federal government is attempting to undermine Texas’s law enforcement capabilities, and I will not allow this to happen.”
Since then, the Biden administration has been replaced with the Trump administration, which takes a different view on abortion and gender, and, on December 9, Paxton announced that his office and the Trump Justice Department have filed a joint motion agreeing to close the case, with the Biden rule “permanently vacated.”
“The Corrupt Biden Administration failed in its radical attempt to obstruct our ability to protect women, children, and those who can’t yet speak for themselves,” Paxton said. “This dismissal confirms that federal agencies cannot take away the power of a state to uphold their laws. This is a crucial win for Texas, the unborn, and the rule of law.”