Abortion Privacy is Under Attack
This week we awoke in a post-Roe America, and witnessed the legislative aftermath of the devastating Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. On Wednesday, abortion clinics like “Pink House”, a bubblegum-colored abortion safe haven in Jackson, Mississippi, closed its doors in response to total abortion bans statewide. In spite of these harsh bans legislating our bodies and revoking our autonomy, we know that abortion in America will not stop altogether. In a post-Roe America, accessing abortion will only become more dangerous and inaccessible, putting the lives and livelihood of Americans at risk. Knowing this, we must consider our digital safety and personal privacy as we navigate this tech-driven surveillance state in which data collection and storage models are not compatible with our human rights. Let’s be clear :: in an anti-abortion nation run by Big Tech, the personal privacy and physical safety of abortion-seekers and supporters is at risk.
In the new post-Roe America, our once-legal rights have been unceremoniously usurped and our reproductive privacy has been jeopardized.
Privacy and legal experts have confirmed that our private user data, including internet search history and other online activity, is actively being shared by tech companies and subsequently weaponized to incriminate, dox, and prosecute abortion-seekers.
Facebook has begun identifying users seeking abortion information, and experts predict that state governments will use this information to charge providers with felonies.
As conservative activists fight for the revoking of all online abortion information, abortion-seekers and supporters are locking down their devices to discuss abortion access in a safe way.
Here are our tips for locking down your phone ::
🩸 Delete any menstrual tracking app from your devices
📍 Turn off your location tracking features on all your devices
📲 Adopt a digital privacy strategy for communication
💻 Utilize encrypted messaging technology like Signal
🤝 Volunteer with an already-established network or abortion fund -do not act alone or encourage abortion-seekers to visit you from our of state via social media. This is more harmful than helpful.
🇺🇸 Know Your Access :: Future of Abortion Access Map
But safety precautions shouldn’t only fall on us — Big Tech can step up and protect our privacy. Because tech companies comply with government subpoenas and will be forced to turn over government-requested data, the solution for Big Tech to support abortion-seekers is to limit their data collection and storage altogether.
In an interview with Axios, Eleni Manis, Research Director for Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), hypothesized that “geofence warrants and keyword search warrants [will be] used … to prosecute individuals who, by living their lives, are committing acts that states may criminalize”.
In a recent move to protect user privacy, Apple introduced Lockdown Mode, a feature that protects iPhone owners from state-sponsored hacking by limiting features that hackers can access. As Apple takes the lead in implementing data safety measures, other tech giant are being called on to follow suit.
In 2020, Google began limiting data collection efforts by strengthening privacy policies and giving users the ability to automatically delete location history.
As the landscape around abortion access and cyber safety grows more grey and uncertain, Americans are calling on Congress to pass federal online privacy laws. Senator Warren (D-MA) and other Senate Democrats introduced recent legislation to ban data brokers from selling location information and health data of internet users. According to privacy expert Woodrow Hartzog, Professor of Law and Computer Science at Northeastern University, Senator Warren’s Health and Location Data Protection Act “would fill one of the largest protection gaps in U.S. privacy law”.
As progressives fight for privacy in Congress, activists are lighting a fire under tech companies to limit data collection to protect their users. Because machine learning and AI relies on collected data, tech companies have increased data storage and collection in recent years to supply the necessary data to meet the demand.
But as the privacy risks for abortion-seekers increase, shared knowledge around staying safe online has also increased. Below we’ve compiled a list of expert resources and tips for privacy and security protection in a post-Roe America.
Stay safe, Squad.
Reproductive Privacy Resources ::
⚡️ Security and Privacy Tips for People Seeking Abortion from The Electronic Frontier Foundation
⚡️ Guide to Abortion Privacy from The Digital Defense Fund
⚡️ How to Hide Your Abortion from Mic
⚡️ How to Protect Yourself Online While Planning an Abortion from BuzzFeed
