Potential Roe v. Wade Repeal Sparks Data Security, Patient Privacy Concerns

The potential repeal of Roe v. Wade has sparked data security and patient privacy concerns, prompting 40 congressional Democrats to pen a letter to Google asking them to stop collecting and retaining location information.  

Led by US Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), lawmakers urged Google to cease collecting location data, which they said could be used by prosecutors to identify people obtaining abortions.

“We believe that abortion is health care. We will fight tooth and nail to ensure that it remains recognized as a fundamental right, and that all people in the United States have control over their own bodies,” the letter stated. 

“That said, we are concerned that, in a world in which abortion could be made illegal, Google’s current practice of collecting and retaining extensive records of cell phone location data will allow it to become a tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care.”

The letter suggested that Google’s practice of collecting cell phone location data would become a “tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care.”

“No law requires Google to collect and keep records of its customers’ every movement. Apple has shown that it is not necessary for smartphone companies to retain invasive tracking databases of their customers' locations,” the letter continued.

“Google's intentional choice to do so is creating a new digital divide, in which privacy and security are made a luxury. Americans who can afford an iPhone have greater privacy from government surveillance of their movements than the tens of millions Americans using Android devices.”

But Google is not the only tech company facing scrutiny over data security and patient privacy practices. According to KHN, concerns surrounding period-tracking apps are also rising as patients and prosecutors await the repeal. Third-party health apps are difficult to regulate and fall outside of HIPAA’s purview.

These fears are not unfounded, KHN reasoned, citing an instance in 2019 in which Missouri state health director Randall Williams obtained a spreadsheet tracking the periods of women who visited Planned Parenthood. Williams was trying to identify patients who had undergone an abortion but failed to terminate the pregnancy, The Kansas City Star reported.

“While Google deserves credit for being one of the first companies in America to insist on a warrant before disclosing location data to law enforcement, that is not enough,” the letter to Google continued.

“If abortion is made illegal by the far-right Supreme Court and Republican lawmakers, it is inevitable that right-wing prosecutors will obtain legal warrants to hunt down, prosecute and jail women for obtaining critical reproductive health care. The only way to protect your customers’ location data from such outrageous government surveillance is to not keep it in the first place”

Concluding the letter, the lawmakers urged Google to promptly change its data collection practices. Google itself reported that it received 11,554 “dragnet geofence” warrants in 2020, which demand data about everyone who was near a specific location at a given time.

“Google cannot allow its online advertising-focused digital infrastructure to be weaponized against women,” the letter emphasized.