Free Expression, Reproductive Rights
Tech Policy Press – Anonymity Online Keeps Pregnant People Safe
This op-ed – authored by CDT’s Aliya Bhatia – first appeared in Tech Policy Press on June 25, 2024. A portion of the text has been pasted below.
In the two years since the US Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health upended the lives of people who can get pregnant, access to safe abortions and reproductive care more broadly has only become more difficult. And the number of spaces–especially online spaces–where someone can be scrutinized or punished for seeking information about abortions and other sensitive reproductive health information has only increased.
That’s a dangerous trend. One way to keep pregnant people, those that can get pregnant, and their allies safe: protect their anonymity online.
Pregnant people who seek abortions make a deeply private decision in the face of many obstacles, including public pressure and stigma, barriers to healthcare, and even domestic violence from an abusive partner. After the Dobbs decision, civil litigation, criminal investigation, or even prosecution are very real possibilities facing some people who seek abortions. People who seek abortions now navigate a complex maze of rules and opinions all designed to not only undermine autonomy for those who can get pregnant, but actively put them in harm’s way. Similar threats face those who merely provide information about abortion or other forms of reproductive healthcare, and law enforcement have consistently used information collected online to make their case. In Nebraska, for instance, direct messages on Facebook between a woman and her daughter were submitted as evidence to arrest the mother for aiding an abortion.
