Even though human beings are, by far, the smartest species to ever walk the earth, they have always retained a strong tendency of mistakes. This has been proven time and time again throughout our history, with each testimony practically forcing us to look for some sort of a defensive cover. We will, on our part, find the stated cover once we bring dedicated regulatory bodies into the fold. Having a well-defined authority across each and every area was a game-changer, considering it wasted no time in plugging a lot of holes. However, these holes were exposed again, and honestly, it was technology that did it. Yes, the same creation which made us smarter than ever before also turned us into our most vulnerable self. In fact, the stated dynamic has only grown stronger over time, therefore nullifying all the progress that we made under regulatory stewardship. However, if there is one thing we have learned from the recent past, it’s that the governing forces will not go down without a fight. They’ll stick around and learn how to better oversee technology’s layered nature. Interestingly, Biden administration’s latest move does a lot to prove this resolve.
President Joe Biden has formally signed an executive order, which directs federal agencies to protect abortion access and the online privacy of patients seeking reproductive healthcare. Providing a follow-up to the overturning of Roe V. Wade, the, the directive encourages Department of Health and Human Services to expand access to emergency contraception and long-acting birth control devices like IUDs. Beyond that, it also asks agencies to educate medical providers and insurers about the situations in which they should share patient information with the relevant authorities. While ensuring that patient data is safe right off the bat is certainly the main goal here, the administration will also enlist volunteer lawyers so to help women and healthcare entities in navigating through the new restrictions. As for the long-term future of these new rules, President Biden has advised people to use the ballot box in November for voting against the unconstitutional judgment.
“We cannot allow an out-of-control Supreme Court, working in conjunction with extremist elements of the Republican Party, to take away freedoms and our personal autonomy,” President Biden said before signing the order. “The choice we face as a nation is between the mainstream and the extreme.”
Since Supreme Court’s announcement regarding the new abortion rules, various lawmakers have come out strongly to protect patient’s reproductive health data. In May, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) urged FTC to have a better security framework for such information. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), on the other hand, made her bid shortly after by introducing a Health and Location Protection Act that would impose a sweeping ban on the sale of sensitive health and location-tracking data. Nevertheless, there is every reason to believe that we’ll see more of such efforts moving forward.