"Unfortunately, this Administration has no problem violating people’s civil liberties, and this is just another example of that," said Towns. "The actions taken by the Justice Department undermine people’s fundamental right to the privacy of their own medical records. These actions pose a serious threat to the rights of all Americans, and they must be stopped."

Congressman Towns has a long-standing interest in medical privacy and first began advocating for medical record safeguards when he found his own medical records in a public trash bin following a doctor’s appointment. He later introduced a bill protecting the privacy rights of insurance claimants in 1996, which became part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). HIPAA prevents the disclosure of "individually identifiable health information" including patient records; it also allows patients to seek protection under state privacy laws if they are "more stringent" than existing federal law.

However, the Justice Department claims that federal law does not protect the doctor-patient privilege in these cases and is seeking the records as part of its pending litigation against doctors and health care providers regarding the enforcement of the so-called "Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003".

"What makes this action so outrageous is that the Justice Department is seeking records of women’s most private and difficult decisions. It is disregarding the fundamental rights of Americans simply because it finds them inconvenient. This is a fishing expedition that must end."

Towns, along with his colleagues, is urging the Justice Department to withdraw the subpoenas and abandon its position denying the legal protection of medical privacy between doctors and patients.