ACLU of South Dakota decry anti-abortion letter from Jackley, State Attorneys General

Jul. 20—PIERRE — The South Dakota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union condemned South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley after he stood with 18 other state attorneys general who signed a letter seeking to strike a proposed reproductive health care privacy rule.

The rule, in line with other Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules, would prevent states from obtaining private health information for the purposes of investigating or prosecuting someone who sought out an abortion outside of the state where the investigation is authorized.

The rule would protect people who had an abortion procedure in a state where it's legal, from their home-state's government overiding HIPAA rules to obtain information about that procedure.

The AGs' letter called on U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) Secretary Xavier Becerra to strike the rule, arguing the department has "reversed course" on early policy that limited the department's oversight on the sharing of protected health information to law enforcement officials.

Samantha Chapman, advocacy manager of ACLU of South Dakota, said in a release that the letter keeps "the door open for criminalizing people who seek abortions or gender-related care beyond state lines."

"People have a right to access abortion and gender-affirming care in states where it's legal," Chapman said in a statement. "We need clear legal protection to prevent hostile states from interfering with necessary health care nationwide."

In the letter, the attorneys general argued that the proposed rule exceeds the department's statutory authority by limiting the disclosure of protected health information to law enforcement officials in response to a court order, subpoena or discovery order.

Currently, South Dakota is one of 15 states where abortion is banned.

HB 1220, which was signed into law this past legislative session

, protects a person who undergoes an unlawful abortion in the state of South Dakota from being held criminally liable for the procedure. However, this law does not stipulate that that persons medical records can't be used by law enforcement for other criminal procedures.

"Whatever Attorney General Marty Jackley and this letter's cosigners might say, it is not the government's job to interfere with or investigate these personal and private matters," Chapman said in a statement. "The government has no place inserting themselves between families and their doctors, whether the issue is reproductive care or medically necessary care for transgender youth."