DATA PRIVACY AFTER DOBBS

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Is period tracking safe?
 
By Paige Gross, as seen in Kansas Reflector and is reprinted in East County Magazine under a creative commons license.
 
Photo courtesy: Elizabeth Ha (submitted by creator to Kansas Reflector)
 
July 29, 2024 (Kansas) -- As more states move to restrict and criminalize reproductive choices around pregnancy, wearable devices that track biometric data and period tracking apps could become digital evidence in court cases.

 
After the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022 and abortion was banned in the state of Tennessee, Danielle Kelvas quit using an app that tracked her menstrual cycle.
 
“It frightened me … I actually got frightened because it tracked me for like, a week,” Kelvas said of the Oura Ring feature Cycle Insights. “And I thought, where’s this information going?”
 
Immediately following the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision which struck down the constitutional right to abortion, data privacy experts cautioned to take a closer look at menstrual cycle tracking apps. Information logged into these apps, or tracked via wearable devices like a Fitbit or an Oura Ring, have the potential to be used in prosecuting those who seek abortions in states which criminalize it. 
 
Read more at Kansas Reflector.

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Comments

A prior Supreme Court did hold there was a right to privacy

and that abortion should be legal in the first trimester for any reason, and in the second trimester for valid reasons, and in the third trimester only if the woman's life or health is at stake.

The Constitution, not the Bible, is the governing document for the United States. We are not a theocracy. There are many non-Christian residents and even many Christians would disagree with your sexist comment that the only "right" women have is to have babies.  Thankfully we have a right to vote, which is in the Constitution now. We have a right to own proiperty, have credit cards, equal rights for jobs, and more. 

 

The US is full of many people

who believe in every word in the bible, and they could not tell you anything about the Constitution, which was a document on organizing the government. To put it another way, we have church parking lots which fill up every Sunday with bible-lovers, not constitution fans. What's in the bible? Many orders including . .To the woman God said, “In pain will you bear children. Yet your desire shall be for your husband. And he shall rule over you” (Gen. 3:16). . .These are the people the politicians go after, not constitution-lovers.

The right to privacy is not a right for abortion

Constitutional Amendments – Amendment 4 – “The Right to Privacy” Amendment Four to the Constitution was ratified on December 15, 1791. It protects the American people from unreasonable searches and seizures. So verbage about trimesters has no standing, except when some humans want to sound important, inferring that the Constitution means something about trimesters.

Electronics

Tracking is done routinely by: Cell phones, cameras, smart TV's, social media sites, our ISP, vehicles, smart home devices, etc.