This bill, known as the SAFER Health Act of 2026, seeks to significantly strengthen the privacy protections for an individual's pregnancy termination or loss information under existing federal health privacy laws, HIPAA and the HITECH Act. It specifically prohibits covered entities and their business associates from disclosing such sensitive health data in any federal, state, local, or tribal legal proceedings without the individual's explicit and valid authorization. This broad prohibition covers civil, criminal, administrative, and legislative contexts, ensuring that personal reproductive health decisions remain confidential. The legislation outlines narrow exceptions to this disclosure ban, primarily allowing information use for defending against professional liability actions or for investigating physical harm to the individual directly related to the pregnancy loss or termination, but only if the individual is deceased or incapacitated. Furthermore, the bill mandates revisions to HITECH Act regulations to clarify that withholding this specific information to comply with privacy rules will not be considered " information blocking ." It also requires health IT developers to implement practices for segregating pregnancy termination or loss information to enhance security and compliance. To ensure these protections are robust, the bill establishes federal preemption over conflicting state laws, while explicitly allowing state laws that offer even greater privacy safeguards for this type of information. The Secretary of Health and Human Services is tasked with conducting an outreach campaign to inform the public and healthcare entities about these new requirements and must issue interim and final rules to implement these changes promptly.