Lansing, Michigan – A visit for prenatal care or a prescription for birth control can leave behind sensitive information. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed a directive aimed at strengthening how Michigan’s executive departments and agencies protect that data, and limiting where it can go.
Executive Directive 2026-4 puts reproductive health privacy under closer review across state government. It addresses a concern that reaches beyond access to treatment: whether information connected to that care could be shared or used against patients and providers.
The directive instructs all executive departments and agencies to examine policies governing the collection, maintenance and storage of reproductive health care data. Those reviews are intended to ensure the information receives the maximum protection, including restrictions on sharing geolocation information and other data with commercial organizations and federal agencies.
The scope extends well beyond abortion care. It also covers prenatal services, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, miscarriage management and infertility care, among other reproductive health services.
“Data misuse is a growing threat, and we must make sure that reproductive care data never lands in the hands of people who could weaponize it,” Whitmer said.
The action follows Whitmer’s 2022 call for major technology companies to protect private health and location information. This time, the directive turns attention to the policies Michigan’s own executive departments and agencies use when handling reproductive care records.
Whitmer described the measure as another step toward protecting both people seeking care and the professionals providing it.
“I’m proud to sign this executive directive to secure Michiganders’ reproductive health data and strengthen patients’ confidence as they seek reproductive care,” she said.
The privacy directive adds to a broader series of reproductive health measures during her administration. Whitmer signed legislation repealing Michigan’s 1931 abortion ban and the Reproductive Health Act, which removed statutes restricting abortion access. She also signed laws prohibiting employment discrimination against women who have had abortions, decriminalizing surrogacy and protecting IVF.
Other efforts have focused on making services easier to obtain. The administration expanded birth control access for 200,000 retirees and their families, and Whitmer signed bills allowing pharmacists to directly prescribe and dispense contraceptives. Free contraceptive resources have also been made available at more than 300 locations statewide.
The latest directive brings those access efforts back to a practical question: how sensitive information is handled once someone seeks care. Its next step is a comprehensive review across executive departments and agencies, with reproductive health data collection, storage and sharing policies all subject to examination.