Governor Whitmer Signs Executive Directive 2026-4 to Protect Reproductive Health Care Data in Michigan
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed Executive Directive 2026-4 in Lansing on November 5, strengthening protections for reproductive health data and ensuring privacy for Michigan patients and providers.
The directive instructs all executive departments and agencies to conduct a comprehensive review of policies relating to the collection, maintenance and storage of reproductive health care data and ensure it is under maximum protection, including restrictions on sharing geolocation information and other data with commercial organizations and federal agencies. Reproductive care includes prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management and infertility care.
Whitmer said she has fought to protect Michiganders' reproductive freedom over the last eight years, calling the directive another important step in keeping patients and providers safe, and warning that data misuse is a growing threat and reproductive care data must never land in the hands of people who could weaponize it.
Her office noted earlier actions including signing the Reproductive Health Act, repealing Michigan's 1931 abortion ban, signing a law prohibiting employers from discriminating against women because they have had an abortion, enabling pharmacists to prescribe hormonal birth control, and making free contraceptive resources available at over 300 locations statewide. In 2022 she called on big-tech companies to protect health and location data; the directive builds on that work.
(Source: Office of the Governor of Michigan)
Source: Office of the Governor of Michigan
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：密歇根州议会大厦（Lansing）。CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Michigan State Capitol in Lansing. CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
