Defend Our Data: A Call On Lawmakers To Strengthen Reproductive Healthcare Data PrivacyAfter The Fall Of Roe
Author: Kristen Bentz
In June 2022, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson
Women’s Health Center, holding that the United States Constitution does not
grant the right to an abortion. Animating the Court’s decision was the
majority’s view that abortion rights are neither expressly stated in the
Constitution, nor embedded in the history and traditions adhered to in this
country. As a result, the Court overruled nearly fifty years of precedent,
abrogating the abortion rights that were previously established through the
Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The issue of abortion
was thus returned to the states, where elected lawmakers have wasted no time
passing laws and implementing strict regulations governing abortion without
concern of fulfilling a federal constitutional right.
This note analyzes the ways that prosecutors, litigants, anti-abortion organizations
and tech industry giants contribute to and benefit from virtually unrestricted access
to Americans’ personal lives by availing themselves of the troves of consumer
data that is endlessly collected, stored, shared, sold and transferred. This note
discusses ways these and other groups can and will rely on this data to
pursue prosecutions, target individuals with civil litigation, and threaten to
diminish access to safe and available abortion and reproductive healthcare
treatments in the United States.