In a post-Roe landscape, pro-abortion advocates have been ringing alarm bells about digital abortion surveillance. As previous cases had shown, like when Meta turned over chats between a mother and daughter, digital communications can become evidence used in prosecutions against women obtaining abortions and those helping people access abortions. This can include messages between friends and family, internet searches, data shared with mobile apps and location data. In Texas, a man used text messages to file a wrongful death lawsuit against three women he alleged helped his ex-wife terminate a pregnancy.
The concern extends beyond messaging apps, too. Anti-abortion advocates have been pushing efforts to make abortion patients’ data publicly available despite confidentiality laws.
