Editor’s Note: This story includes mention of sexual violence or assault. Resources are available here.
In a move to safeguard the privacy and well-being of their patients, two Indiana physicians filed a motion June 11 to intervene in a lawsuit, filed May 1, by the anti-abortion group Voices for Life. Voices for Life is seeking to regain access to individual terminated pregnancy reports, which the Indiana Department of Health stopped sharing with the public earlier this year due to patient privacy concerns.
With fewer patients receiving abortions, Indiana public access counselor Luke Britt raised concerns that releasing the full reports could be used to violate patient confidentiality, particularly in smaller communities.
The motion, filed by The Lawyering Project on behalf of obstetrician-gynecologists Caitlin Bernard and Caroline Rouse, highlights the patients' stake in the case's outcome. They argue that granting Voices for Life access to the detailed reports, which they say contain 31 data points that can be used to identify individual patients, would expose their patients to "harassment and intimidation by anti-abortion extremists."
This is not the first time patient privacy has been a point of contention. In 2023, Bernard received a letter of reprimand and a fine from the Indiana Medical Licensing Board over a patient privacy complaint filed by Attorney General Todd Rokita. Bernard told the Indianapolis Star in July 2022 she would provide an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio. The board determined that even the partial disclosure of information about the patient who sought care from Bernard violated HIPAA laws.
Following this, Rokita filed a lawsuit against IU Health, alleging their support of Bernard violated HIPAA laws by breaching patient confidentiality. The Health Insurance Profitability and Accountability Act of 1996 was passed to protect sensitive patient information from being disclosed without the patient’s permission.
Rokita called Bernard an “abortion activist acting as a doctor – with a history of failing to report” during a segment on Fox News in July 2022. Rokita was reprimanded and fined by the Indiana Supreme Court in November 2023 after admitting to “attorney misconduct” by making the comment.
Bernard and Rouse’s motion also addresses their concerns about Rokita's interpretation of Indiana Code Section 16-34-2 , being that information, such as a terminated pregnancy, is public knowledge, as long as it is released by a public organization. Rokita believes the decision to not share these reports complicates Indiana law enforcement. In an advisory opinion released in April, Rokita said that since the 1970s, abortion reports have been publicly available.
In the motion, Bernard and Rouse say abortion providers want to avoid "unauthorized surveillance by a private organization with no relevant expertise," emphasizing that Voices for Life is not a neutral public servant.
"People who need an abortion deserve access to confidential medical care without being exposed to harassment and intimidation by anti-abortion extremists," Stephanie Toti, the executive director of the Lawyering Project said, according to Indiana Public Media.
The motion highlights the ongoing battle over reproductive rights in Indiana, where a near-total abortion ban was implemented last year. In Indiana, an abortion is considered legal when there is risk to a pregnant person’s life, according to the Center of Reproductive Rights.
