Jacobs, Wyden, and Hirono Push to Close Loopholes Allowing Federal Assistance for Abortion Surveillance
Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (CA-51), U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), and U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) are pushing to close loopholes allowing local and state law enforcement to use federal assistance for abortion surveillance. The lawmakers led 30 colleagues in a letter to President Biden and Vice President Harris urging the Administration to uphold its commitment to reproductive rights and take all necessary steps to ensure federal resources, including those administered through the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), cannot be weaponized for abortion surveillance and enforcement of abortion bans.
“As part of the Administration’s efforts to protect access to abortion and other reproductive health care, we ask that you take all necessary steps to ensure federal resources in no way aid or supplement criminal investigations of reproductive health decisions,” wrote the lawmakers. “Specifically, we ask that the Administration examine ways existing forms of federal assistance could be used to support state and local abortion surveillance and investigations, including assistance administered through the FBI and DHS. Additionally, we ask that you consider approaches to restrict state and local law enforcement from using federal assistance for these purposes, including limiting the class of investigations for which agencies provide federal assistance, creating new rules or conditions to access resources, or instituting new prohibitions on the use of federal resources to support abortion-related investigations.”
Full text of the letter is available here and below:
Dear President Biden and Vice President Harris,
Thank you for your dedication to protecting reproductive health and rights. We are grateful for the Administration’s actions since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, including to safeguard abortion access and sensitive health data. As members of Congress committed to protecting reproductive health privacy, we are concerned about reports that state and local law enforcement could use existing forms of federal assistance to surveil people who seek or assist in abortion care. To ensure federal resources help rather than hinder access to reproductive care, we ask that the Administration take steps to prevent the use of federal assistance for state and local abortion surveillance.
As you know, since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, 24 states have banned or are likely to ban abortion, restricting access to essential health care and criminalizing abortion assistance. Even before Dobbs, people—especially those from marginalized communities—were subjected to surveillance of and prosecution based on pregnancy outcomes, and we have already seen high-profile cases of abortion surveillance post-Roe. These intrusions on personal health care decisions erode public trust, threaten the health and well-being of pregnant people, and create a chilling effect among health care providers.
It is imperative that federal resources safeguard access to reproductive health care, including abortion care. However, we are concerned that federal assistance administered through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could undermine our shared goals, providing support to state and local law enforcement that could be used to surveil and prosecute abortion. As over 50 civil society and reproductive rights organizations noted in a recent letter to the Administration, this assistance includes digital forensic support, resources to facilitate communications records requests, and access to databases that aggregate and share sensitive personal data, including location information.
As part of the Administration’s efforts to protect access to abortion and other reproductive health care, we ask that you take all necessary steps to ensure federal resources in no way aid or supplement criminal investigations of reproductive health decisions. Specifically, we ask that the Administration examine ways existing forms of federal assistance could be used to support state and local abortion surveillance and investigations, including assistance administered through the FBI and DHS. Additionally, we ask that you consider approaches to restrict state and local law enforcement from using federal assistance for these purposes, including limiting the class of investigations for which agencies provide federal assistance, creating new rules or conditions to access resources, or instituting new prohibitions on the use of federal resources to support abortion-related investigations.
Thank you again for your leadership in defense of reproductive health care, including abortion care. We look forward to continuing to work together to advance essential health care and safeguard reproductive health privacy.