Trump admin ends unlawful Biden rule using HIPAA to promote abortion

The Trump administration has ended Biden-era regulations using federal health privacy laws to promote abortion and so-called gender-transition procedures.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under President Joe Biden had issued a rule restricting how doctors and states could protect patients from abortion and gender-transition procedures, according to Life News. Before President Donald Trump took office in January, a federal court granted a Texas physician an injunction against the rule, but it remained in place until the Trump administration allowed the case to be dismissed after a recent ruling.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit on behalf of Texas family physician Dr. Carmen Purl in 2024 to challenge the regulations. 

ADF attorneys argued the rule changes under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) “added unprecedented restrictions on doctors’ ability to report abuse and states’ ability to protect children from abortion and harmful drugs and surgeries related to gender confusion.” 

The regulation redefined “person” and “public health” to exclude unborn children. It also limited how doctors and law enforcement could act when protecting patients from abuse if abortion or gender-transition procedures were involved. 

ADF Senior Counsel Natalie Thompson welcomed the Trump administration’s move. 

“Doctors and states should be able to protect patients from abuse, and we’re pleased to bring this case to a favorable end on behalf of the Texas physician we represent, as well as every other doctor across the country,” Thompson told reporters. “This unlawful rule change would have weaponized laws about privacy that have nothing to do with abortion or gender identity. 

“The Biden administration attempted to undermine state laws that protect mothers and unborn children from the harms of abortion, and vulnerable children from dangerous and sterilizing procedures like puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and life-altering surgeries,” she added. 

In June, a federal district court permanently struck down the Biden regulations, ruling they were illegal. The Trump administration declined to appeal the decision, which left the rule blocked. 

Two city governments – Madison, Wisconsin, and Columbus, Ohio – and a medical advocacy group filed an appeal seeking to reinstate the Biden rule. Last week, their case was dismissed in Purl v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

This decision equates to “freeing doctors around the country to safeguard the health and safety of mothers and children,” ADF said in a release. 

The dismissal means doctors and states no longer have to follow Biden’s HIPAA reinterpretation.