On 3/20/'04 the NY Times reported that a New York Federal Court ruled [thus overruling a SanFrancisco court] that it is appropriate for the Justice Department to obtain medical records of patients receiving Voluntary Abortions.

In order to follow the story read the news bulletins below with the knowledge that on 3/11/'04 THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT RESCINDED its order to review the abortion records because of the earlier SanFrancisco court ruling.

The story started this way:
Washington -A report in NY Times, 3/06/04 ”The Bush administration has set forth a new, limited views of privacy rights as it tries to force hospitals and clinics to turn over records of hundred and perhaps thousands of abortions.

Federal law "does not recognize a physician-patient privilege," the Justice Department said last month in court papers that sought abortion records from Planned Parenthood clinics in California, Kansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, New York City and Washington. The department said in another abortion case that patients 'no longer possess a reasonable expectation that their histories will remain completely confidential."

Health lawyers and privacy experts said that position reflected a significant shift after six years in which Bush and Clinton administration officials had promised to strengthen the confidentiality of medical records. [See earlier articles on this web-site reporting new rules concerning privacy of medical records signed into law early in the Bush Administration].]

On Friday 3/05/04, a federal district Judge in San Francisco denied a demand by the Justice Department for access to abortion records from a public hospital there and from six Planned Parenthood affiliates in the country.

The Judge, Phyllis J. Hamilton, said forcing the providers to turn over the records would undermine the privacy right of patients and could dissuade some from seeking treatment. NY Times story filed by Robert Pear and Eric Lichtblau" [end of quote and news report]

Why all this confusion:
I It is possible a US effort is underway to investigate not only the number of Late Term Abortions but also the relationship between Voluntary Abortion and Cancer of the Breast, in later life, a relationship that is accepted in several nations, where abortion performed are part of the public record.
The new rules of medical record privacy allow our federal government access to all records in matters they feel have impact upon the common good. [they decide what is necessary for the common good.]