There is a mountain of data that privacy advocates are now worried could be used by law enforcement in states that have banned abortion. Here's what digital information prosecutors can (and can't) use in legal abortion cases.
Abortion pillsAnti-abortion laws tend to criminalize those who perform an abortion — the providers — and not those who receive one, said Elizabeth Nash, the state policy analyst at the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health nonprofit.
“It’s not a self-managed abortion,” Wells said. “You’re consulting with a doctor. You’re doing a medical consultation. You’re doing it online. The doctor writes you a prescription. The prescription goes to a licensed online pharmacy.”And the international origin of most abortion pills offers something of a legal barrier. State law enforcement could subpoena an international online pharmacy or clinic for all users in their state. But those companies wouldn’t necessarily have to comply.
But a person charged with receiving an abortion within a state where it is illegal could have their location data subpoenaed. In recent years courts have increasingly approved “It is tricky because people think HIPAA protects much more than it does. Ultimately I don’t think we have a safeguard right now if law enforcement has a warrant for clinic data,” Geoghegan said.