Rokita Wants Department of Health, Public Access Counselor to Release Hoosiers’ Personal Medical Records

An article published yesterday by the Indiana Capital Chronicle details how the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) had its choice of attorneys rejected by Attorney General Todd Rokita in a lawsuit it is currently facing regarding the release of Terminated Pregnancy Reports (TPRs). 

The suit was brought by a South Bend-based anti-abortion organization that aims to ban abortion entirely in Indiana. The motivation for the suit was to regain access to individual TPRs, which the IDOH stopped releasing with such a small number of patients. The change was made following the implementation of 2022 Senate Bill 1 (ss), as state health officials were concerned that information on the reports could be used to identify the women receiving the procedures. Indiana Public Access Counselor Luke Britt opined earlier this year that the data on the reports could be used to identify an individual Hoosier patient, a clear breach of HIPAA. This is because only a handful of abortions have taken place in Indiana since the ban took effect, and the information can be “reverse-engineered” to identify an individual patient. 

Rokita then called for an outside group to sue the IDOH over this matter, an organization which the AG is supposed to defend in court, leading to the lawsuit brought by an anti-choice group. When the suit was filed, Rokita then denied them their preferred choice of attorneys.

“Hoosiers expect the state’s top attorney to defend their personal medical records from being exposed to the public,” said Indiana Democratic Party Chair Mike Schmuhl. “Instead, Todd Rokita has made these records another political tool in his reelection campaign.

“Rokita is trying to expose the personal records of Hoosier women who were already faced with the nearly-impossible task of receiving potentially life-saving care under the few exceptions in Indiana. His term has been defined by a lack of respect for healthcare professionals and Hoosier women – it’s time to retire Rokita this November.”