The War Between the States: Shield Laws, Telemedicine, and Litigation
In the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs. v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), states have adopted widely divergent approaches to the surveillance of reproductive health care activities. Some states have sought reproductive health information to enforce abortion bans with civil and criminal penalties, while twenty-two states and Washington, D.C., have adopted legislation or issued executive orders to protect reproductive health information from disclosure. These policies are collectively known as “shield laws.” CDT’s 2024 report offers a detailed analysis of shield laws in each state.
As the share of abortions provided by telemedicine clinics continues to grow, the mailing of medication abortion from shield law states into states with bans has given rise to unprecedented legal issues and a new wave of interstate litigation. These lawsuits have called into question whether shield laws will protect reproductive health information related to interstate telemedicine, and whether doing so is constitutional. The Supreme Court may soon be pressed to decide these controversial questions, which could have significant implications for the surveillance of reproductive health care more broadly.
Shield laws in nine states explicitly extend protections regardless of the patient’s location, and states have already started to invoke these protections in high stakes interstate litigation. If shield laws are held unconstitutional, some states may aggressively expand their surveillance of reproductive health care activities.
CDT-led Coalition Calls for Transparency for White House AI Framework
CDT and Americans for Responsible Innovation led a broad, bipartisan coalition of over two dozen civil society groups in calling on the White House to release its Framework for review of frontier AI models.
CDT Amicus Brief Calls on Fourth Circuit to Rein In Geofence Warrants
Earlier this year the Supreme Court ruled in Chatrie v United States that the Fourth Amendment protected all cell phone location information, which CDT lauded as a landmark decision, but sent the case back down to the Fourth Circuit to assess the propriety of the geofence warrant at issue.
CDT and Partners Post Floor Alert Opposing CA SB 1013 Automated License Plate Readers Bill
The best way to ensure that Automated License Plate Readers are not abused is to limit the retention of stored data and to keep loopholes to lawful process closed. CA SB 1013 is a step in the wrong direction, and we urge the California legislature to reject this approach.
British Public Oppose Secret Surveillance Powers and Want Strong Protections for Encrypted Communications
CDT released nationally representative polling data revealing that a the British public are broadly concerned about the security, privacy, and free speech consequences of allowing law enforcement to access encrypted communications.
