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Government Surveillance, Privacy & Data, Reproductive Rights

LETTER: CDT-Led Coalition of 50+ Rights Groups Urges Administration Not to Allow Local Police to Use Federal Support for Abortion Investigations & Prosecutions

A CDT-led coalition of 54 civil and human rights, civil liberties, and reproductive rights organizations published a letter today urging the Administration to make sure that support given by federal law enforcement to local police is not used to investigate and prosecute abortions. The federal government provides assistance such as facilitating demands for communications records, breaking into data encrypted on cell phones and computers, and reformatting seized digital records. 

CDT has explained in a four-part series how these powerful forms of surveillance support local police work, and how, going forward, they could be used to investigate and prosecute reproductive health choices in states that ban abortion. Now, this broad coalition is pressing the Administration to follow through on its commitment to reproductive rights by ensuring that federal aid to state and local law enforcement is not co-opted for abortion surveillance.

The full text of the letter is available here.

SEE ALSO: CDT’s advocacy to protect the right to reproductive health privacy after the Dobbs decision.