Period-tracking apps under scrutiny over data sharing following Roe v. Wade ruling

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Period-tracking apps Roe v. Wade data sharing overview: 

• Who: Period tracking apps are looking at their data privacy protections for users after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade
• Why: The Supreme Court decision could mean some states ban abortion and criminalize those who help access to abortions 
• Where: Nationwide

Period- and fertility-tracking apps are looking closely at their data privacy settings to protect those having abortions from legal action after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Apps like Flo, Natural Cycles and Clue are used by millions to track menstruation and fertility. 

The apps’ makers fear users’ personal health information is now at risk of being used against them, as a number of states head toward criminalizing abortion. 

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, in light of Roe being overturned, abortion will likely remain legal in 21 states and likely would become prohibited in 24 states. 

Data input by users into the app about their period, pregnancies or end of pregnancies is owned by the company and can be subpoenaed by law enforcement and used to build a case against someone suspected of having an abortion, Insider reports.  

Period-tracking apps have faced legal action before

Period trackers have already been under the microscope for their storage of sensitive data. 

Flo faced legal action in 2021 after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleged the app shared sensitive user data with third parties for advertising purposes. 

Now, Flo has announced a plan to launch an anonymous mode to protect the identity of its users, in the wake of the Roe v. Wade decision. 

Another app, Clue, vowed in a tweet to “stand up” for its American users and not share personal data with law enforcement.

Meanwhile, birth-control app Natural Cycles said it is also working on a “completely anonymous experience.” 

For those who have already added their personal information to the app, each company typically offers information on how to delete data. Anyone who is concerned should reach out to the company to ask how to have that data deleted permanently. 

However, University of Edinburgh research fellow Andrea Ford warned users of the fertility apps should weigh the risks of their data being shared through the apps.

“If I lived in a state where abortion was actively being criminalized, I would not use a period tracker — that’s for sure,” she told NPR.

Roe v. Wade overturned; millions to be financially harmed

The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, saying the Constitution “does not confer a right to abortion,” and sending the authority to regulate abortion back to the states.

Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented, writing: “Today’s decision, the majority says, permits ‘each State’ to address abortion as it pleases. … That is cold comfort, of course, for the poor woman who cannot get the money to fly to a distant State for a pro­cedure. Above all others, women lacking financial re­sources will suffer from today’s decision.”

Tens of millions of Americans are expected to be financially impacted by the decision, experts say.

According to the Turnaway Study, a landmark, 10-year research piece from the University of California San Francisco, those turned away from abortion healthcare and who went on to give birth experienced an increase in household poverty lasting at least four years relative to those who received an abortion.

It also lowered a woman’s credit score, increased their amount of debt and increased the number of their negative public financial records, such as bankruptcies and evictions.

Do you trust period-tracking apps to keep data private? Let us know in the comments. 

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