There is a clear example of how Facebook will respond to law enforcement requests for abortion data.
According to Forbes, a detective in Nebraska suspected that the stillborn birth of a 17-year-old girl was an abortion and subpoenaed her Facebook messages. He explained in his affidavit that he asked Meta not to tell the teen about the request for her Facebook data because she might destroy evidence. Records show that Meta followed logic.
Meta did not immediately respond to Ars' request for comment on this case, but previously, Meta said that they notify users and advertisers about requests for their information if they are prohibited by law from doing so or in exceptional circumstances.
The abortion took place in April and the data request took place in June. There wasn't an emergency at all. It's possible that this case is counter productive for Meta to provide notice if there are other "exceptional circumstances" justifying Meta sharing the data without notice.
She was 28 weeks pregnant when her mother helped her order abortion pills from the mail.
Nebraska does not allow abortion after 20 weeks, but an abortion at 28 weeks does.
When he found out that the mother and daughter had lied about the baby's death, he began to investigate. When he interviewed the teen about the day of her miscarriage, he noticed that she used her Facebook Messenger app to find the exact date.
There was more evidence on Meta's server, which led to the belief that there was more evidence in the case. The final autopsy report said the cause of the baby's death was not known, but that it was an abortion. He said in his affidavit that he believed there would be more messages after Celeste shared her messages with him.
AdvertisementThe tech company was suspected of keeping evidence of a crime under the Prohibited Acts with Skeletal Remains. He wanted every photo of mother and daughter, as well as their private messages, and their location data.
The data request led to the arrest of Celeste and Jessica. The jury trial for both of them will take place in October. Celeste will be tried as an adult for the crime. Jessica is accused of performing an abortion after 20 weeks as an unlicensed abortion provider and then hiding the corpse.
Ars' requests for comment or requests from other outlets were not responded to by attorneys representing the state of Nebraska.
Although the criminal charges seem to have nothing to do with the Supreme Court's decision, the fact that helping someone procure mail-order abortion pills equates to performing an abortion as an unlicensed provider is concerning. Attorney General Garland previously stated that states couldn't ban abortion pills, but didn't say that they couldn't ban abortion pills. There is a new hurdle to reproductive rights that has been exposed.
Celeste seems to be avoiding mentioning "abortion pills" in her messages to her mother, seemingly taking advice from experts who have suggested using code words. The time Celeste will have to wait before taking the medication is referred to by Jessica. Law enforcement obtained a second search warrant because of the messages and seized 13 laptops and phones that contained 24 gigabytes of data. All their data was opened by the Facebook data.
Experts have offered advice to help abortion seekers avoid law enforcement mining online data for evidence unless Meta changes its stance. This guide was posted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation to help people protect the privacy of abortion data. There is still a way to guarantee that Facebook won't share your data in the future, even if you live in a state that doesn't allow abortions.
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