True, but if a state medical board wishes to go after a doctor, that doctor is in for a hell of a legal battle which will cost him a lot of money even if he’s exonerated in the end. Since state medical boards usually just recommend “disciplinary actions” and not criminal charges, they have a lot more leeway when determining whether a doctor deserves such actions. They might not discipline doctors for performing abortions but, rather, scrutinize all of that doctor’s documentation or other details of his practice. In the end, they can make him very miserable for a very long time without ever formally charging him with anything.
It’s a bit like a malicious IRS audit. Even if they find nothing, it can be a hell of an ordeal to go through.
HIPAA does not, so far as I understand it, protect any doctor from having to disclose patient information to any professional regulatory authority. So that wouldn’t be an ex post facto issue.
The announcement comes on the heels of President Joe Biden stating that the administration has done largely everything it can do unilaterally.
Casual observation. The reason Biden keeps doing more, even tho he said he’s done all the administration could do, is that the red states keep coming up with new and novel ways to strip civil rights from residents of their states: pregnant persons, healthcare providers, friends and family, Uber drivers… residents of other states…
Red states residents can vote the Talibans out, but they refuse to do so, not even a scare. Healthcare providers and teachers can just vote with their feet, there are shortages of them in all sane states.
RU-486 was approved by France in 1988. At least 10 of the 12-year lag before FDA finally approved it in 2000, has already been caused by meddling, rightist, panty sniffing judgment freaks.
They just couldn’t stand the thought of a woman quietly, privately getting abortion care in her doctor’s office, free of interference from her husband, boyfriend, uncle, stepbrother, coach, mentor, teacher, preacher, boss, stepson or that gauntlet of Operation Rescue terrorists outside the Planned Parenthood clinics.
A lot of the Democratic losses can be blamed on Rahm Emanual and his decision to focus resources only the congressional delegations in bright blue states and ignore funding the elections of Democrats in purple or red states. The Republicans on the otherhand understood the importance of winning local races everywhere they could. We needed a 50 state strategy twenty years ago. Instead we got of donor money funnelled to campaigns in states that didn’t need all the money and next too nothing sent to states to protect people like Claire McCaskill in formerly purple states like Missouri.
No disrespect to either of these people (Manchin, Rockefeller). My point was that a bunch of people were elected as Democrats before Rupert Murdoch and his poisoning of the American narrative with lies.
This won’t do anything. A Prosecutor will get what they want. What will change things is when the red states start actually prosecuting the straight white men transporting their partners or sisters or daughters to get an abortion. A lot of straight guys don’t understand much about reproductive health until they are confronted with it (and even then pretty shit).
Once you start locking them up they’ll start to talk to their friends are are very likely also knuckle dragging mouth breathers who haven’t spent a single braincell on the topic.
I guess my point was that there are plenty of ways to ruin a person’s life that don’t involve criminal charges or jail time. This is why I don’t believe that the “protection” Biden is offering will likely reassure anyone. It’s a bit like telling doctors “don’t worry about having a giant target on your back because we’ll issue you a bullet proof vest that you can wear.” Most people will still go a long way out of their way just to avoid having targets on their backs.
