We, as a provider of abortion care and a lawyer advocating for abortion access, are alarmed by these data. We believe there is no place for the criminal legal system in healthcare spaces. The fear of criminalization and/or reporting to law enforcement agencies keeps people from seeking care and causes harm. It pits patients against providers. It is antithetical to care and misaligned with medical ethics and public health principles. There is absolutely no mandate to report patients to law enforcement for having an abortion or experiencing pregnancy loss. In fact, there is no underlying crime in nearly all states. As If/When/How's research shows, investigations and arrests typically involve overzealous prosecutors misusing criminal laws that aren't meant to apply to self-managed abortion.
We want mandatory reporters -- those individuals required by state law or policy to report incidents like abuse, certain injuries, and other situations -- to know that they can help stop the targeting and criminalization of their patients before it happens. No state's mandatory reporting law requires providers to report to law enforcement the suspicion (or confirmation) of a person's attempt to self-manage their abortion. Nor should they. Doctors, nurses, and other care providers should not be put in the position to act as agents of the state -- interrogating, surveilling, and criminalizing individuals for seeking care. In fact, absent a specific requirement in the law, reporting a patient to law enforcement for self-managing an abortion is a HIPAA violation. Healthcare providers who violate patient privacy rights could face repercussions through their institution, their licensing board, or a lawsuit brought by the aggrieved patient.
MY BODY, MY RIGHT.....the"body police" mentality,neighbor reporting neighbors,is a HIPPA issue....if any "ratting" on a person is acceptable,then the slippery slope of THE MINORITY REPORT''(fictitious movie with Tom Cruise) has come to pass....it is no longer fiction.
Was it your body and your right when you were fired because you wouldn't get an ineffective and potentially dangerous vaccine? Or denied entry to places?
And abortion is a crime in many states now so they are incorrect when they say it isn't. Don't like the law? Elect people who will change it. Or modify it.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
She could always move to any other country in the world that has more restrictive abortion laws ((except for China and NKorea). I’m still amazed how abortion, the killing of unborn human life, is more important to some people than the mass suffering people are experiencing from bad energy and economic policies, especially to the people who will never need to kill a baby because they are too old.
The left is angry because they are now being judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.
