Fertility Surveillance and the Handmaid’s Tale are not Science-Fiction

We cannot ignore the latest avalanche threatening women’s reproductive health, with the possibility of American women losing their right to safe abortion. After nearly 50 years of legal protections, the U.S. is approaching a frightening milestone, if or when the U.S. Supreme Court decides to overturn Roe V Wade. If you are thinking, “What does this have to do with me”, think again.

Fertility and period tracking apps are widely used by millions around the world to manage their reproductive health (at least 200 million use Clue and Natural Cycles alone). While these apps can be great tools for body awareness and fertility planning, there is a downside to using them.  Tech and Femtech companies in particular, are monetizing your every detail and move. 

Twitter posts this past month are warning women to delete their period tracking app info from their smartphones! Why? Because period and fertility apps, like other health apps, do not protect your privacy.  

So try and imagine that, g-d forbid, abortion is criminalized and you have an unintended pregnancy.  This knowledge could be revealed in your app data! 

There is already a legal case on record which resulted in a woman from Mississippi being charged for second-degree murder in 2015 because her intent to abort was proven from a trace of her online google searches about how to induce an abortion!  Just last month, a woman in Texas was arrested and indicted for murder. Her crime: aiding another woman in a self-induced abortion.  

Using fertility apps sounds harmless and certainly bears no resemblance to murder charges. Yet the fear is real that one day, your personal data could eventually be shared with law agencies mandated to enforce abortion bans and used against you! There’s even a fertility app, FEMM, that was created for promoting anti-abortion support. 

How Does The Law Protect Your Privacy Rights?

Most apps may be free for download but they collect intimate details about you – your cycles, period pain, sick days, fertile days and sexual activity.  And that’s just part of the story. The hidden fact is that most app owners make money by selling your data to third-party sources such as marketers, tech startups, advertisers and analytic companies (think Facebook and Google). 

For those who never knew that app surveillance tools were even legal – now you know. They are. Only Europe and a few US states have laws which ensure data privacy, and the FDA does not regulate what are referred to as “medical apps”. 

According to EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the new California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), app owners are obliged to keep data anonymous so that in case of a leak, the data cannot be linked to you directly. Businesses that service European markets must comply with GDPR, especially if their servers are located in Europe. The Same goes for California and CCPA.   

That said, given a search warrant, the police could get access to your device and extract any data they want.

It seems that we become so blinded by the magic and ease of everything digital that we cannot see the real price of our new-found freedoms and progress. If we cannot imagine how our personal data is already or could be weaponized against us, then it’s time for a wake-up call. 

Before you download a period tracking app, know what you’re signing up for. Check the provider’s privacy policy and terms of use and look for a clear indication or declaration that the app owner is not selling data to third parties. This usually means you’ll need to pay for the service, as it is unlikely to be both free and private.   

Apart from not selling your data, app providers should also state how they are going to protect your data from third party threats, and which regulations they adhere to. 

How To Keep Your Health Data Private? 

• Use VPN to hide your IP address.
• Choose apps that have good privacy controls such as secure login and two factor authentication.
• Use an ad blocker.
• Turn off geolocation tracking.
• In extreme cases, you can request app owners to permanently delete all your personally-identifiable information. Note that this action cannot be reversed.
• Be willing to pay for your privacy. If you’re using an app for free, it is most likely using your data.
• Demand that the tech tools we buy and use are secure and in your complete control. 

When Science Fiction Turns Into Real Life

The Handmaid’s Tale, a dystopian novel written by Margaret Atwood in 1985, warned of a totalitarian future in which women’s rights are subjugated and their fertility controlled by men who overthrow the U.S. government in the name of extremist Christianity. 

Abortion rights are human rights and are an inseperable part of our reproductive rights. For nearly 50 years, we have taken for granted the freedoms that earlier feminists fought for on our behalf and those of future generations.

Black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) as well as all poor, disadvantaged people have been at the highest risk of unintended pregnancy, backroom abortions and maternal mortality. Their lives have always been at risk. With Roe v. Wade set to be overturned, the reproductive rights and lives of all of us are on the line.

If we don’t want religious fanatics to set the tone and Gilead to become our reality, then what are we willing to do individually and communally to protect our personal freedoms and fight to ensure that our rights are upheld and guaranteed?