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How to Protect Your Digital Privacy if Roe v. Wade Falls
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Lily Hay Newman

Security
May 5, 2022 6:02 PM


HOW TO PROTECT YOUR DIGITAL PRIVACY IF ROE V. WADE FALLS

Reproductive rights are still largely guaranteed in the United States. Here are
some key privacy concepts to adopt in the event that they're not.
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Photograph: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Getty Images
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A leaked United States Supreme Court draft opinion published by Politico on
Monday and soon after authenticated by Chief Justice John Roberts is a blaring
signal that the Court will overturn the 1973 reproductive rights case Roe v.
Wade. Abortion access has already been dramatically curtailed in many states
around the US, but a decision from the Court would turn back the clock nearly 50
years, reinstating historic abortion bans in some states and paving the way for
newer “trigger laws" to take effect.

That seismic shift hasn't come yet. The leaked draft opinion is just that—a
draft—and it's possible the justices will move in another direction. The Supreme
Court is expected to issue its official decision in June. Currently, people
around the country continue to seek legal, albeit often restricted, abortions.
The leak raises important questions, though, about what criminalization of
abortion might look like in different states, how far it might extend, and what
people can do to protect themselves and minimize their digital footprint as they
inevitably continue to seek the medical intervention.

A critical component of Roe v. Wade is its determination that the “right of
privacy … is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether to terminate
her pregnancy.” But comprehensive digital privacy is challenging to achieve in
an age of widespread user-tracking, location-tracking, and corporate data
retention. 



Organizations like Digital Defense Fund and Electronic Frontier Foundation offer
detailed guides for steps you can take to protect your digital privacy while
researching and seeking an abortion or related services. When it comes to a
potential dismantling of Roe, though, it remains to be seen how far
criminalization will extend in different states and what exactly the landscape
will look like. In the meantime, researchers and reproductive health experts
note that incorporating a few basic privacy strategies could go a long way
later.

Proceed With Caution

Before diving into research and logistics related to having an abortion,
consider how public a given communication channel is. Using a social network
where most posts can be seen by anyone or posting in a group with a lot of
members (like a big Facebook group or Telegram channel, for example) carries the
risk that your posts could be discovered or revealed. 



“If you know that you’re doing something that is risky, just be cautious about
how you talk about it on the internet—or don't talk about it on the internet at
all,” says Kat Green, managing director of Abortion Access Front. “And if you
can avoid being explicit about what you’re asking for and what you’re talking
about—[it's] better not to text somebody unprotected on SMS and be like, ‘how do
I get abortion pills?’”



Across the board, abortion access proponents recommend talking about anything
that might carry risk on an end-to-end encrypted messaging app like Signal with
the disappearing/auto-deleting feature turned on so your messages don't hang
around on your device or that of the person you're talking to. Apps like Signal
also offer end-to-end encrypted calling and even video chat to keep snoops off
your calls (and your call and text logs off your phone company's records). 

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While it may be increasingly important for people in the US to consciously
consider what they're posting when it comes to their own abortions or those of
loved ones, Hayley McMahon, an independent public health researcher who studies
abortion access, notes that the goal of this advice is not to chill speech, but
to keep people safe.



“I don’t ever want to tell someone they shouldn’t talk about their experience or
they can’t talk about their experience, because there’s tons of power in
abortion storytelling,” McMahon says. “But I think people need to have all of
the information and an understanding of the risks, and then they can make
choices about what to say where.”

Know Your Rights

Researchers emphasize, too, that people in the US should know and feel secure in
their rights when it comes to dealing with law enforcement. If you are being
questioned by police, you can simply say, “I am exercising my right to remain
silent and I want to speak with an attorney.” Resources like the Repro Legal
Helpline can help connect you with specific legal advice. Additionally, lock
your devices with a strong, unique PIN number, keep them locked, and simply ask
for an attorney if a cop attempts to compel you to unlock your device. 

McMahon also adds that in the very rare case of a complication with a medication
abortion, people should not feel pressure to disclose the treatment to
clinicians in the emergency room or other health care settings. Simply saying,
“I think I'm having a miscarriage” will suffice.

“People need to understand that it's impossible to tell the difference between
spontaneous miscarriage and medication abortion,” McMahon says. “Medication
abortion simply induces a miscarriage. And of course, we typically want everyone
to disclose their health history to their clinician, but in this case, the
treatment is the same, so nothing is lost by not disclosing that information.”

Deluge of Data

Using apps, browsing the web, and using search engines are all activities that
can expose personal details, creating a major challenge in controlling the flow
of personal information as people research or seek abortions. And often by the
time someone is seeking an abortion, they have already generated data that could
reveal their health status. Period-tracking apps, for example, gather data that
may seem benign but is clearly sensitive in the context of potential abortion
criminalization. In one recent case, the Federal Trade Commission investigated
and sanctioned the fertility-tracking app Flo Health for sharing user health
data with marketing and analytics firms, including Facebook and Google. And
researchers have also found numerous examples of health websites sharing
personal data with third parties or conducting targeted ad-tracking without
adequately informing users and in violation of their privacy policies.



Using a search engine that doesn't track potentially sensitive user data, like
DuckDuckGo, and browser extensions that block web trackers, like EFF's Privacy
Badger, are all steps you can take to significantly cut down on how much of your
browsing data ends up in tech companies' hands. And consider analog options, if
possible, for recording and storing reproductive information, like a notebook or
paper calendar where you log details of your menstrual cycle.

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One of the most pernicious and complicated aspects of attempting to rein in your
personal data as you research or seek an abortion is the question of how to
mitigate the collection of your location data. Always turn off location services
for as many apps as possible—iOS and Android both make this relatively easy now.
And if you're traveling to receive an abortion, you might consider leaving your
phone at home or keeping it in a faraday bag for as much of the trip as
possible.

“A lot of those data-generating activities that you’ve already engaged in in the
past are already out there,” says Andrea Downing, founder of the nonprofit Light
Collective and a security and privacy researcher focused on patient populations
and social media. “You can delete apps from here forward, turn off location
services, stop using a fertility app, and those are all great steps. But it's
also reasonable if people can't remember everything all the time. Patient
populations are susceptible and vulnerable online, and we need to focus on
protecting them.”

McMahon, the independent public health researcher, echoes this sentiment, noting
that any small steps a person can take to defend their data are positive and
should be celebrated.

“I want to emphasize, it is definitely not someone's fault if they forget to do
any of these things and then get criminalized,” she says. “People may feel like
they made a mistake if they reach out to others for help, but no! You did a
normal human thing and the system is criminalizing you.”

While issues of digital privacy are extremely salient to people seeking
abortions, they impact every marginalized and disenfranchised group. And as the
Light Collective's Downing points out, they ultimately affect everyone.

“Roe v. Wade is about privacy, it was always the core thing underlying that
case,” she says. “So even if you are not a person seeking an abortion, you need
to be thinking in terms of how your rights may be next.”






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Lily Hay Newman is a senior writer at WIRED focused on information security,
digital privacy, and hacking. She previously worked as a technology reporter at
Slate magazine and was the staff writer for Future Tense, a publication and
project of Slate, the New America Foundation, and Arizona State University.
Additionally... Read more
Senior Writer
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Topicsprivacyencryptionhealthsurveillancereproductive rights
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