Issue Brief

The Supreme Court has long recognized that parents possess a fundamental interest in the care, custody, and upbringing of their children. At the same time, minors possess a constitutional right to privacy and bodily autonomy. This policy brief examines the changing legal landscape with respect to reproductive health care rights and parental rights at the federal level, and actions taken by states in the protection or restriction of reproductive health care rights through changes to statutes and state constitutions.

Overview The current legal and policy landscape has fueled anxiety and confusion for those involved in work related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA),…

This document summarizes the rights of minors to consent to various types of health care without the consent or knowledge of their parents. It also covers whether the law permits information concerning the minor’s health care to be shared with the parent. Though the details of this document apply only in Michigan, the legal provisions likely have counterparts in other states. Lawyers in other states may have developed, or could develop, comparable summaries for their states. You may wish to talk with your attorney, or visit the Public Health Lawyer Directory to find a public health attorney in your state.

This document summarizes the rights of minors to consent to various types of health care without the consent or knowledge of their parents. It also covers whether the law permits information concerning the minor’s health care to be shared with the parent. Though the details of this document apply only in Michigan, the legal provisions likely have counterparts in other states. Lawyers in other states may have developed, or could develop, comparable summaries for their states. You may wish to talk with your attorney, or visit the Public Health Lawyer Directory to find a public health attorney in your state.

Maintaining the privacy of reproductive health information is critical for ensuring access to care, promoting open communication with providers, and preventing harm like stigma, harassment, and criminalization. This issue brief aims to support policymakers and others considering enactment of additional state-level protections. To that end, it describes the 2024 Final Rule’s protections that are no longer in effect and identifies HIPAA provisions that could leave reproductive health information vulnerable to punitive use and disclosure. It then provides a general overview of privacy-related state shield laws, analyzes how they relate to the 2024 Final Rule, and identifies considerations for enactment of additional protections, providing state law examples for others to draw from.

Pregnancy, giving birth, and being postpartum while incarcerated are linked to negative health impacts as people who are incarcerated are not provided adequate prenatal and postpartum care, and experience trauma from the experience. One policy that supports the health of pregnant people who are incarcerated is mandating access to safe and effective abortion care for those who do not want to be pregnant or give birth while incarcerated. This issue brief examines current state laws regarding access to abortion in carceral facilities in the states where abortion is generally available by law.

In recent years, federal, state, and local child welfare agencies have begun to develop data sharing policies and practices to support sharing child welfare data with other agencies. These agencies intend to use data sharing to enhance the government’s ability to coordinate and improve the provision of social services. This issue brief explores the relationships between child welfare, public health, data sharing, and racial and income disparities. It includes recommendations for agencies, community partnerships, and policy researchers to incorporate into the development of data sharing and use practices to reduce the risk of further perpetuating harm against vulnerable communities.

As a result of the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs, advocates on both sides of the abortion issue turned to state constitutions to determine the contours of a right to abortion or to make clear no such right exists under state law. When abortion was on the ballot in 2022, voters in several states rallied to enshrine the right to abortion in state constitutions and rejected attempts to further restrict abortions in their states. In the wake of these successful ballot measures, state legislators throughout the country have sought to amend ballot initiative processes ahead of the 2024 elections. This fact sheet outlines recent proposed amendments by several states that are intended to thwart pro-abortion ballot initiatives.

Renewed governmental focus on chronic disease prevention can provide a new impetus to enhance public health data collection for non-communicable diseases, building on recent progress in standardizing and modernizing infectious disease surveillance. Although public health has previously emphasized survey-based surveillance to assess chronic disease prevalence within communities, increased access to individual data in electronic health records could provide more timely and comprehensive information for responsive interventions. This resource reviews how public health authority generally supports expanding reporting requirements to encompass non-communicable diseases. However, as jurisdictions expand collection of individual data about chronic conditions, they should also ensure appropriate confidentiality safeguards in order to maintain public trust. 

This Issue Brief, part of a series of analyses looking at resolutions declaring racism a public health crisis in each region of the country, summarizes resolutions in the western U.S. states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington. This analysis focuses primarily on resolutions passed by state and local governments, including city councils, county boards, city and county executives, school boards, and boards of health.

Data sharing across correctional and community systems is complex and laden with risk, but failure to share data entails risk as well given the vital role data plays in effective pre- and post-release services to support youth during a particularly unsafe period. Thus, data sharing partners must not shy away from the admittedly hard work of navigating these challenges. Rather, partners must work towards effective and equitable cross-sector data sharing, recognizing the value of disclosure and the imperative of safeguarding privacy. This work necessitates community-driven, empowering data sharing that protects against further entanglement of punitive systems in health and social care.  This resource is intended to assist states implementing the youth-focused Medicaid and CHIP reforms in navigating these data sharing challenges. It identifies the important role of data sharing in reentry services and highlights the different roadblocks that those engaged in data sharing may encounter. It then identifies legal, ethical, and practical considerations for designing equitable data sharing systems that center the voices of impacted youth and protect against further entanglement of punitive systems in health and social care.

Fewer than 10 percent of births in the United States involve a doula. Increasing access to safe and effective doula care could decrease the high maternal morbidity and mortality rate in the U.S. This issue brief examines the role of doulas, state regulation of doulas, and how to expand doula care access and coverage through policy.