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Privacy & Data, Reproductive Rights

Press Release: CDT – Supreme Court Abortion Ruling “Devastating” for Women’s Right to Privacy

WASHINGTON – The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) condemned the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization as profoundly misguided, with devastating impact for the right to privacy of people seeking reproductive care. State laws that criminalize abortion, or deputize private citizens to sue any person who performs an abortion or aids and abets such a procedure, create frightening new incentives for law enforcement and civilians to seek out private information about patients seeking reproductive care, and the providers who support them.

CDT President and CEO Alexandra Reeve Givens says:

“This ruling is devastating for the privacy rights of people seeking reproductive care. Historically, we have looked to the court to expand and protect our rights – not take them away.

In the digital age, this decision opens the door to law enforcement and private bounty hunters seeking vast amounts of private data from ordinary Americans. Location data that reveals sensitive reproductive health information can be collected and sold by data brokers without users’ knowledge. Data about a person’s reproductive health decisions can also be revealed from sources like their browser and search histories, email and text message logs, use of reproductive health apps, and other commercial products with which many users interact daily.