We strongly supported legislation that would provide critical safeguards for the privacy of reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare data. This bill would require entities to obtain explicit consent from individuals before collecting or sharing any data related to that individual's reproductive or gender-affirming care. The bill's coverage is directed at those entities that are not covered by HIPAA but provide reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare services, collect reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare data from individuals in providing those services, and direct the collection and use of the data. This includes services or products provided by many modern health apps, including those that track health conditions, like period-tracking apps or apps that monitor vital statistics, to the extent they relate to reproductive and gender-affirming care.
This bill would also prevent entities from creating a geofence around healthcare facilities that provide reproductive or gender-affirming services in order to track individuals seeking care. A geofence is a virtual boundary drawn around certain areas that tracks when a user has entered or left the boundary area. For example, a map application that has access to your location for navigation purposes cannot use that data to secretly identify healthcare clinics someone has visited.
