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Protect access to abortion and gender-affirming care. Strengthen the health data privacy bill.

Dear Senator,  

The undersigned write to request that the Senate Law & Justice Committee strengthen and pass HB 1155, the My Health, My Data bill. In a post-Roe world, no one should have their personal health information collected and shared without their permission or knowledge. 

While many people think that the federal Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects all their private health data, HIPAA only covers data collected by specific health care entities. Website and app data, among others, is not protected by HIPAA. As a result, our health data is left vulnerable to be used by anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQIA2S+ groups, used in out-of-state criminal prosecutions, or employed by anti-abortion interests to target people with harmful advertising. 

Unfortunately, House amendments weakened the protections offered in the My Health, My Data bill, leaving those seeking and providing reproductive and gender affirming care exposed, and creating potentially insurmountable barriers to a person seeking justice when their highly sensitive and personal health data is collected, used, and shared in violation of this Act.  We urge you to strengthen and pass the My Health, My Data bill by adopting a number of amendments to the bill, including the ones specified below, and passing it out of committee:

  • Restore a per se action for consumers (Sec 11): Restore the enforcement action in the bill by making a violation of the bill a per se violation of the Consumer Protection Act;
  • Illegal activity clarification (Sec 12): Close a significant loophole in the bill by specifying the illegal activity exemption only applies to activity that is illegal in Washington state. The current language puts those providing and seeking abortion and gender affirming care at-risk;
  • Protect consumers identity (Sec. 3): Ensure the bill protects data that identifies a consumer seeking health care services, such as when someone fills out a health care intake questionnaire.
  • Restore geofencing protections (Sec. 10): Restore the geofence prohibition provision in the bill to fully protect people seeking health care from the risk of data privacy violations.

The My Health, My Data bill would better protect all of us by:

     - Preventing apps and websites, and other entities from collecting, sharing, and selling health data without opt-in consent or authorization; and

     - Requiring entities to have strong health data privacy policies. 

House Bill 1155, the My Health, My Data bill, is reasonable policy and necessary in a post-Roe world. We urge you to strengthen the protections under this bill, to benefit people seeking abortion and gender-affirming care in Washington.