President Biden signs order on abortion care and patient privacy

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President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Friday instructing federal agencies to protect abortion access and the online privacy of patients.

The Department of Health and Human Services is required to expand access to emergency contraception and long-acting birth control devices. The Federal Trade Commission should take steps to protect the sensitive health data of patients seeking abortions and other reproductive care, according to the report.

Biden said before signing the order that the Supreme Court should not be allowed to take away our freedom. There is a choice between the mainstream and the extreme.

Democratic lawmakers and abortion rights activists warned about the safety of abortion-seeking patients after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of abortion rights.

The FTC was urged to protect reproductive health data in a May letter by two senators. They wanted to know if the agency had taken any steps to counter the risks posed by the Supreme Court's ruling. The Health and location Protection Act was introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren in June.

The plan for Biden to ask the FTC to take action on consumer privacy was first reported by the news website. It is not clear what actions the agency will take after Friday's order. Flo, a fertility- tracking app, settled with the agency in January of 2021.

While the order directs the FTC to consider next steps on data privacy, it also calls on HHS to craft new safeguards for sensitive information. The HHS Secretary asked the Office for Civil Rights to publish new guidance explaining that the Privacy Rule protects healthcare providers from revealing patient information to third parties.