Federal law shields abortion records from prosecutors and courts
H.R. 9470 — SAFER Health Act of 2026 · Filed by Sara Jacobs (D-CA) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Jun 25, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill amends federal health privacy law (HIPAA) to prohibit healthcare providers and their business associates from disclosing information about pregnancy termination or loss—including abortion, miscarriage, and stillbirth—in any legal proceeding (civil, criminal, or administrative) without explicit patient consent. It requires the Department of Health and Human Services to update regulations within 90 days to implement these protections and to ensure health IT systems can segregate this sensitive data. The bill preempts conflicting state laws but allows states to impose stronger privacy protections.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to amend HIPAA to create a new category of protected health information (pregnancy termination or loss data) and restrict its disclosure in legal proceedings. This is a straightforward privacy expansion, not a market intervention or regulatory carve-out.
What the text implies
- Creates a federal privacy shield that may conflict with state laws requiring disclosure of abortion-related medical records to prosecutors or in custody/family law proceedings, forcing courts to navigate preemption questions.
- Health IT developers must now implement data segregation for pregnancy-related records, adding compliance costs and technical complexity to EHR systems.
The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.
Who it affects
Ordinary people gain a concrete privacy protection: healthcare providers cannot be compelled to disclose sensitive reproductive health information to law enforcement, prosecutors, or courts without consent. This directly shields individuals from state prosecution or civil liability based on medical records, particularly in states with abortion restrictions.