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After Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices overturned Roe v. Wade, GOP officials at the state level got to work imposing sweeping restrictions on reproductive rights. There was, however, one rather obvious flaw in the partisan campaign: People are free to travel, see medical professionals in a different state, and then return home.
To be sure, this doesn’t apply to everyone. A great many residents of red states can’t afford to take such a trip, and others can’t get time off of work. But for at least some residents, the option exists: If medical procedures that were legal in your state have since been banned, you can go to more progressive states for care.
As a practical matter, Republicans can’t put up checkpoints, monitoring who’s traveling in and out of their states, asking people to explain their comings and goings, but for several GOP state attorneys general, there’s an alternative approach: They want the authority to seek private medical records from other states as a way of checking up on their constituents.
In fact, quite a few Republican attorneys general are already making such a case. The Tennessean reported yesterday:
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti wants the state to be able to investigate and compel information on out-of-state abortions, according to a letter he co-signed with 18 other Republican attorneys general in response to a White House-backed federal rules change that would further shield reproductive health medical records.
Depending on what part of the country you’re in, it’s possible you’ve seen related headlines locally. The Courier Journal in Kentucky, for example, also reported yesterday that Republican state Attorney General Daniel Cameron also wants his state to be able to access private out-of-state medical records.
The Arkansas Times reported that Republican state Attorney General Tim Griffin wants the same thing. So does Republican state Attorney General Chris Carr of Georgia as well as Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch of Mississippi. In fact, as Rachel noted on last night’s show, it was Mississippi Today that broke this story in the first place.
All told, a total of 19 state attorneys general have signed on to a joint letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, making the case for being able to access out-of-state medical records — not just for abortion, but also for gender-affirming care.
At this point, much of this might seem theoretical: These state AGs are talking about a power that they want to have in the abstract, but there’s no official confirmation that these Republican officials have actually started collecting private medical information from other states.
That said, the aforementioned Courier Journal report added, “Asked if Cameron’s office has sought or requested information on Kentuckians’ reproductive health care from other states since the Dobbs decision last summer, his spokespersons did not immediately reply with an answer.”
There’s no great mystery as to what precipitated the GOP officials’ letter. The Biden administration has proposed a federal rule change that would prevent states from obtaining private medical information “for a criminal, civil, or administrative investigation into or proceeding against any person in connection with seeking, obtaining, providing, or facilitating reproductive health care ... outside of the state where the investigation or proceeding is authorized” and “is lawful in the state where it is provided.”
That is the policy these Republican state attorneys general are worried about, though I have a hunch the Democratic White House and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra won’t be persuaded by their concerns.