HIPAA Weakened for Abortion, Ohio Personhood Bill, and More: June 23 News Roundup
Plus, what you missed on Autonomy News last week.
Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly roundup. Every Monday, we’ll send you a summary of the biggest stories about bodily autonomy. We’ll also include links to pieces that Garnet or Susan have published.
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Let’s dive in.
On Autonomy News
Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee released their version of the budget reconciliation bill, which includes a provision to “defund” large abortion providers like Planned Parenthood by excluding them from Medicaid. We exclusively reported that, the following day, Planned Parenthood informed its regional affiliates that they can apply for waivers to stop providing abortions, meaning they would remain eligible for Medicaid funding. The organization declined to confirm the waivers citing confidential negotiations, but notably didn’t dispute our reporting. (Share this story on Instagram or Bluesky.)
Garnet Henderson
In April, a strange website appeared, offering abortion "concierge" services. In May, it started contacting clinics. Garnet reports on the site’s odd web 2.0 aesthetic and its bizarre messages to a “secret shopper.” (Share this story on Instagram, Bluesky, or TikTok.)
Garnet Henderson
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Federal news
Abortion privacy
Trump-appointed federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk struck down a Biden-era HIPAA rule protecting reproductive health-related medical information from state officials and law enforcement. The ruling, which was effective immediately nationwide, could make it easier for law enforcement to obtain medical records of people who crossed state lines for abortion care. Kacsmaryk is the same judge who allowed three states to resurrect the lawsuit challenging FDA regulations of the abortion pill mifepristone.
Gender-affirming care
In a devastating decision, on Wednesday the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tennessee in U.S. v. Skrmetti, upholding the state’s ban on youth gender-affirming care. The American Civil Liberties Union and—under President Biden—the Department of Justice had argued that the ban on puberty lockers and hormone therapy only for trans kids, not cisgender ones, was a form of sex discrimination, since it (obviously) classifies people on the basis of sex. The Court’s six-justice conservative majority disagreed. “By retreating from meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most, the Court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims,” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor. “In sadness, I dissent.”
State news
New York, Maine, Vermont, and Washington have recently passed laws that allow abortion providers to keep their names off prescription bottles, an expansion of the “shield” laws that allow providers in 22 legal states to prescribe abortion pills to patients in ban states. Proposed legislation currently working its way through the Massachusetts state Senate could add another state to this list. However, at least one Massachusetts shield law provider, Massachusetts Medication Abortion Project, has already removed doctors’ names from pill bottles based on guidance from the state attorney general. A proposal in California would remove patients’ names as well.
Personhood watch
Ohio Republicans introduced a total abortion ban that would overturn the constitutional amendment voters passed in 2023. The so-called “Prenatal Equal Protection Act” is also a personhood bill that would ban IVF and some forms of contraception because it defines life as beginning at fertilization. Reproductive justice activists disrupted a press conference at the statehouse to paper attendees with a reminder of the amendment.
Assaults on queer people
On the same day as the horrible in Skrmetti decision, we learned that the Trump administration will end LGBTQ resources at the 988 national suicide prevention hotline effective July 17.
Quick hits
- The baby of Adriana Smith, the Georgia woman who was declared brain dead but kept on life support, was born prematurely via an emergency cesarean section. This is not so much a “delivery” as it is an extraction. Adriana’s family halted life support on Tuesday and her funeral is set for Saturday. May she rest in peace.
- The latest abortion data from the Society of Family Planning #WeCount study shows that by the end of 2024, 25 percent abortions in the U.S. were provided via telehealth, or one in four. That's up from 22 percent in their prior survey, and just 5 percent before the Dobbs decision. Providers have expanded access and “shield laws” have allowed providers in legal states to prescribe pills to people in states with bans. Republicans are trying to ban telemedicine of abortion pills, if not ban the pills altogether.
- Florida Rep. Kat Cammack (R) told the Wall Street Journal that doctors hesitated to treat her ectopic pregnancy last year shortly after the state’s six-week abortion ban took effect. Cammack is blaming the delay on the left “fearmongering” about criminal charges for healthcare providers, when it was the Florida GOP that put those punishments in the law.
- Speaking of ectopics, Shannon Liss-Riordan is a Massachusetts attorney who helped a woman file a class action lawsuit against an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center after her ectopic pregnancy ruptured. Vanity Fair recently interviewed her about her primary role as a labor lawyer who has sued Elon Musk and Michael Bloomberg for stiffing workers.
- The FDA approved a twice-yearly shot to prevent H.I.V. infection, but experts worry its global impact will be blunted after the Trump administration gutted programs that might have paid for it in low-income countries.
Supreme Court watch
We regret to inform you that nine Supreme Court cases argued this term have yet to be decided, and the Court is yet again scheduled to issue rulings at 10am on Thursday, June 26.
Here are the cases we’re still watching:
1. Whether states can kick Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid for non-abortion services (Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic)
2. A challenge to the Obamacare-mandated expert panel that determines which preventive medical services should be covered without out-of-pocket costs. The plaintiffs specifically object to their health plans covering HIV prevention drugs called PrEP. (Braidwood Management v. Kennedy)
3. Whether the court should lift a nationwide injunction blocking enforcement of Trump’s executive order purporting to end birthright citizenship. (CASA, Inc. v. Trump)
Palate cleanser(s)
Presenting: cat on a fire truck at the Missoula, Montana, pride parade.
@selkirk.the.cat I couldn’t stop laughing. #parade #cat #fire ♬ original sound - Selkirk The Cat
And in Boise, Idaho, a counter-demonstrator at the sparsely attended and embarrassing “Hetero Awesome Fest” jumped on stage to perform a pro-trans song.
Hetero Awesome Fest - Guerrilla Performance - Boise, Idaho - Boy 🚨 A QUEER PERSON HAS SNUCK ONTO THE STAGE AT HETERO PRIDE THIS IS NOT A DRILL 🚨
— Boise Autonomous Solidarity Hub (@bigbash.bsky.social) June 21, 2025 at 6:11 PM
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