DATA PRIVACY AFTER DOBBS
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.