Following the Roe vs. Wade overruling case, Google has stated that it will delete abortion data as well as a woman’s location information. The announcement comes amid concerns that a digital trace may alert law authorities if a woman terminates a pregnancy illegally.
On June 24, the United States Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that established a constitutional right to abortion. The verdict is projected to result in abortion prohibitions in nearly half of the states, though the timeframe of those laws taking effect varies.
Jen Fitzpatrick, a senior vice president at Google, stated in a blog post that the change will go live in the coming weeks.
Fitzpatrick said that the tech giant will also remove data records of users who visit counseling centers, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight reduction clinics, and plastic surgery clinics. She added that tracking location history is off by default and that it may be deleted at any time.
Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.) in New York revealed in one of its recent reports that anti-abortion activists are already surveilling pregnant people in order to frighten them from using their legal reproductive rights. The overturning of the verdict is anticipated to result in an increase in digital surveillance of pregnant women.
Following the ban, the tech industry has expressed concern that authorities may get warrants based on users’ search history, geolocation, and other information exposing pregnancy plans.
Users of a period monitoring app have been urged by health agencies and activists on social media to be cautious with their data.
