DNC National Press Secretary Emilia Rowland released the following statement: 

“Trump and Vance’s Project 2025 agenda should terrify every American: banning abortion nationwide, threatening doctors with jail time, restricting access to contraception, and even monitoring women’s pregnancies. Under Project 2025’s Orwellian blueprint, every abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, and incidental pregnancy loss from medical treatments like chemo could be reported to the federal government. Vance even personally opposed reproductive health privacy protections he said would thwart the enforcement of extreme abortion bans. This isn’t about policy, it’s about control. This November, voters will remind Trump and Vance that they have no place in our doctor’s offices.”

Both JD Vance and Project 2025 have called on HHS to roll back protections that narrow the ability of law enforcement to access the medical records of people seeking reproductive services. In the Senate, Vance even signed onto a letter opposing an HHS rule to protect reproductive health care privacy. 

Project 2025 Mandate for Leadership, p. 497: “OCR should withdraw its Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidance on abortion. OCR should withdraw its June 2022 guidance that purports to address patient privacy concerns following the Dobbs decision but is actually a politicized statement in favor of abortion and against Dobbs. HIPAA covers patients in the womb, but this guidance treats them as nonpersons contrary to law. The guidance is unnecessary and contributes to ideologically motivated fearmongering about abortion after Dobbs.”

Comments on Proposed Rule: HIPAA Privacy Rule To Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy: “We write to express our concern regarding the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed rule, ‘HIPAA Privacy Rule To Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy,’ 88 Fed. Reg. 23506 published on April 17, 2023 (the ‘Proposed Rule’), and to urge you to withdraw it immediately.

“Abortion is not health care—it is a brutal act that destroys the life of an unborn child and hurts women. Congress did not authorize HHS to extend special provisions for abortion such as these under the guise of ‘health care.’ The Proposed Rule unlawfully thwarts the enforcement of compassionate laws protecting unborn children and their mothers, and directs health care providers to defy lawful court orders and search warrants. 

“The Proposed Rule creates special protections for abortion that limit cooperation with law enforcement, undermine the ability to report abuse, restrict the provision of public health information, and erase the humanity of unborn children…

“Sincerely… J.D. Vance United States Senator”

HHS Official Melanie Fontes Rainer: “If a person receives reproductive health care, such as a pregnancy test or treatment for an ectopic pregnancy, and that reproductive health care is lawful in the state where the care is received, the information about the care cannot be disclosed or used by the health care provider or health plan for an investigation, or to impose liability by law enforcement on the patient or the provider…

“No one should have to live in fear that their conversations with their doctor or that their medical claims data might be used to target or track them for seeking lawful reproductive health care.”

Both Trump and Vance have endorsed allowing states to monitor pregnancies AND Trump has called to prosecute women for seeking reproductive care. 

HuffPost: “Among other proposals, such as dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, the plan outlines how the government could keep detailed records on abortions and even obtain pregnant patients’ medical records without their consent… There is evidence that, if elected, Trump and his vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), would permit or even encourage the type of Orwellian surveillance described in Project 2025.”

Project 2025 Mandate for Leadership, p. 455: “Because liberal states have now become sanctuaries for abortion tourism, HHS should use every available tool, including the cutting of funds, to ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother’s state of residence, and by what method.”

Project 2025 Mandate Leadership, p. 455, 456: “Comparisons between live births and abortion should be tracked across various demographic indicators to assess whether certain populations are targeted by abortion providers and whether better prenatal physical, mental, and social care improves infant outcomes and decreases abortion rates, especially among those who are most vulnerable.”

Rolling Stone: “Trump and Vance Have Backed States That Want to Surveil Pregnant Women”

“In May, a host at WGAL, an NBC affiliate in Pennsylvania, noted to Trump that there were ads running that suggested he would support certain states with bans monitoring women’s pregnancies. ‘Well, that would be up to the states, again,’ Trump responded…

“Vance, an Ohio senator, has gone further. Last summer, he signed onto a congressional letter calling on the Biden administration to withdraw a draft rule designed to prevent police in states with abortion bans from using personal health information to track and potentially charge people who travel to other states for abortion care.”

HuffPost: “Trump Is Fine With States Monitoring Pregnant Women So They Don’t Get Abortions”

The Hill: “Trump: It’s up to states to monitor pregnancies, prosecute abortions”

Interviewer, TIME Magazine: “Do you think states should monitor women’s pregnancies so they can know if they’ve gotten an abortion after the ban?” 

Trump: “I think they might do that. Again, you’ll have to speak to the individual states. Look, Roe v. Wade was all about bringing it back to the states. And that was a legal, as well as possibly in the hearts of some, in the minds of some, a moral decision. But it was largely a legal decision.”

Interviewer: “Prosecuting women for getting abortions after the ban. But are you comfortable with it?”

Trump: “The states are going to say.” 

Trump: “There has to be some form of punishment [for women who have an abortion].”