This week, we are monitoring several updates in the unregulated pregnancy clinic (UPC) industry and reproductive and maternal health rights.
- Campaign for Accountability called on the Louisiana Attorney General to investigate The Unexpected Pregnancy Center – a UPC whose clients’ personal health information was exposed in a training video available to anyone online. According to New Orleans Public Radio, A nonprofit watchdog is asking Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill to investigate whether a New Iberia crisis pregnancy center broke state law after it appeared to post the full names, last menstrual periods, and other personal health information of 13 clients online, despite claiming that it follows federal health privacy laws. This alarming breach of privacy underscores the urgent need for accountability and oversight.
- When asked about its authority to investigate the Unexpected Pregnancy Center’s release of client personal health information, the Department of Health and Human Services clarified that UPCs do not qualify as covered entities under HIPAA. This response reveals a troubling gap: UPCs are collecting sensitive health information without the regulatory oversight necessary to ensure its security and privacy. As Jessica Valenti wrote in her Substack “Abortion, Everyday”: These fake clinics know that invoking HIPAA makes them seem more medically credible, even though they’re well aware that they’re not beholden to the same privacy laws that real OBGYNS and reproductive health clinics are.
- In a statement released this week, RHFW noted “The UPC industry is collecting the sensitive information of women seeking their care without absolutely no legal oversight, and they are being reckless with that information, as evidenced by the egregious lack of care taken when uploading these training videos…Attorney General Murril must act quickly in order to ensure that women know about the danger that the UPCs pose to their privacy.”
- South Carolina State Representative Thomas Pope (R) has pre-filed a bill for the 2025 session that would prevent the state from regulating several UPC practices. The bill – which appears to have been influenced by the extremist organization “Alliance Defending Freedom” – establishes strict protections for unregulated pregnancy clinics, shielding them from being required to provide, refer, or counsel for abortions or contraception. It prevents any governmental interference with UPC operations, staffing, or ability to provide pregnancy-related counseling and resources. The bill also allows UPCs to pursue civil actions for damages and attorney’s fees against any entity violating its provisions, with minimum damages set at $10,000 per violation.
- An appeals court said that a UPC cannot proceed in federal court with its attempt to block New Jersey’s request to view its donor records. According to Bloomberg Law, “An anti-abortion medical center can’t proceed in federal court with its lawsuit seeking to block New Jersey’s attorney general from enforcing a request for its donor records, including their identities, a split appeals court said Thursday. First Choice Women’s Resource Centers Inc.’s suit alleging First Amendment violations by Matthew Platkin (D) wasn’t ripe for review, two judges of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said in an unpublished decision.”