The Surveillance State Is Primed for Criminalized Abortion

In the three weeks since a draft opinion leaked from the Supreme Court promising to roll back the federal constitutional right to abortion in the United States, reproductive rights activists and privacy advocates have been working to understand how such a shift will impact Americans. A new report from the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project lays out the ways in which police, prosecutors, and private litigants will be able to use existing data-access mechanisms and tracking tools to enforce state abortion bans.

Privacy advocates have been warning about the dangers of a state built to track certain types of behavior for a long time.

Albert Fox Cahn is the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. The truth is that when you develop those techniques, you are at the mercy of those in power.

Without a federal right to abortion in the United States, investigators can use massive amounts of data generated and collected about consumers, web users, and anyone who interacts with digital systems. Tech companies will face law enforcement requests for user data. The investigative technique in which law enforcement requests data from devices used in a set area during a specified time range is a prime example of a controversial surveillance mechanism that can, and likely will, be easily repurposed to investigate people who may. The investigators could use search warrants to find people who use search engines to find information about abortion, providers, or abortifacients.

The state of New York should pass legislation that would be the first of its kind in the US and would offer a template for other states to follow, according to STOP, which is based in New York.

The research states that pro-choice states will need to reexamine their data-sharing initiatives, including participation in fusion centers that allow multiple law enforcement groups to share information. These and other controversial policing initiatives could be expanded to investigate pregnant people, reproductive healthcare workers, and others. A recent investigation by Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy and Technology showed how far the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has been able to expand its powers by partnering with local and state agencies.