Alaska AG signs GOP chain letter attacking privacy rights on abortion decisions
The Dunleavy administration claims that if a state bans abortions it is legal for authorities to cross state lines and track whether a woman gets an abortion in another state, according to Attorney General Tregarrick Taylor, who has once again signed onto a GOP chain letter promoting his personal political opinions.
Taylor says it is legal for states to cross state lines to investigate whether someone living in a state that has banned abortions has gone to a state where abortions are legal and gotten one there.
He objects to a proposed federal regulation that would ensure the privacy of reproductive health care records and not allow state interference when the care takes place “outside of the state where the investigation” is authorized and the care is “lawful in the state in which it is provided.”
“Under the proposed rule, the records would be shielded from law enforcement, court subpoenas and in civil lawsuits and family court proceedings,” the Tennesee Lookout reported Tuesday.
Taylor and 18 other Republican generals say they object to the federal rule and complain that the states have the power to handle this on their own.
The GOP AGs claim federal law does not allow the Department of Health and Human Services to “shield from authorities evidence of legal wrongdoing under state law based simply on a claimed connection to ‘health care.'“
The federal government is obstructing states from regulating abortion, Taylor claims, and trying to “override state abortion laws.”
“The proposed rule would interfere with states’ ability to obtain evidence that could reveal violations of their laws,” the generals claim.
Abortion is legal in Alaska under the privacy clause in the state Constitution.
Here is the GOP chain letter, which started with the AG in Mississippi.
Taylor has his own public relations staff, which has inflicted nearly 70 press releases so far this year on Alaskans, tops in state government.
He sometimes has his PR staff announce when he signs chain letters with other Republican generals, such as his plea to save AM radio June 29.
But Taylor’s PR crew did not announce his attack on privacy in health care matters, dated June 16.
As I wrote here March 20, “He is quick to add his name to every Republican dog whistle chain letter or lawsuit that strikes his fancy—ranging from advising drug stores not to sell an abortion pill to complaining that the Securities and Exchange Commission is moving toward a “command and control economy”and denouncing credit card companies for having a “category code” for gun stores. He has also opposed vaccination rules for public health, a new visa system for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela and a variety of other Biden administration moves. Federal overreach is a constant theme.”
Taylor claims the federal rule on privacy for reproductive health care is federal overreach. But it’s really about state overreach and protecting people from the GOP generals.
In announcing the proposed rule April 12, Melani Fontes Rainer of the Office of Civil Rights said that this is about preserving trust in the privacy of the doctor-patient relationship.
“Today’s proposed rule is about safeguarding this trust in the patient-provider relationship, and ensuring that when you go to the doctor, your private medical records will not be disclosed and used against you for seeking lawful care. This is a real problem we are hearing and seeing, and we developed today’s proposed rule to help address this gap and provide clarity to our health care providers and patients.”
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