In our post-Roe world, using messages and web searches to prosecute women isn’t hypothetical—it’s a reality. “Simple search histories may pose enormous risks,” says Laurie Betram Roberts. Because almost everything we do happens on our phones, it’s easy to leave behind a trail of clues.
Latice Fisher, a Mississippi woman, is a disheartening example of this. When paramedics arrived at her house, they found a child, roughly 35 weeks along, in the toilet. It was rushed to the hospital, where it was then pronounced dead from drowning. Although she claimed that she was unaware of the pregnancy and there was no evidence she took a pill, her search history proved otherwise. After she voluntarily surrendered her iPhone to police, investigators discovered that Fisher had searched for how to “buy Misoprostol Abortion Pill Online” 10 days earlier.
Digital evidence has also played a role in the arrest of Purvi Patel, the first woman in the US to be sentenced for “feticide” for ending her own pregnancy. The evidence found included texts she and a Michigan friend exchanged, and even a visit to a webpage entitled “National Abortion Federation: Abortion after Twelve Weeks.” Police found emails from a site where misoprostol and mifepristone pills could be purchased without a prescription. Such cases really prove that all kinds of digital evidence can be used to prosecute women seeking abortions.
However, tech companies should be doing more to help keep private matters private, especially since they are capable of doing so. Google on Friday announced it would delete location history when users visit an abortion clinic. The government also has the power to pass privacy regulations. Corynne McSherry, the legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says, “Privacy is a team sport — when you take steps to protect your own privacy, you also take steps to protect the community.”
However, activism movements are also gaining a foothold, such in Poland, where abortion is only legal if no one else aids the woman in her abortion. Groups like Abortions Without Borders not only send these pills to Polish women but also help those who seek abortions to travel to less restrictive countries. No woman should be alone in this kind of struggle, and like quoted in the article before, “Privacy is a team sport.”
Article: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1656875850946x921715788385584600/Police%20used%20texts%2C%20web%20searches%20for%20abortion%20to%20prosecute%20women%20-%20The%20Washington%20Post.pdf
Latice Fisher, a Mississippi woman, is a disheartening example of this. When paramedics arrived at her house, they found a child, roughly 35 weeks along, in the toilet. It was rushed to the hospital, where it was then pronounced dead from drowning. Although she claimed that she was unaware of the pregnancy and there was no evidence she took a pill, her search history proved otherwise. After she voluntarily surrendered her iPhone to police, investigators discovered that Fisher had searched for how to “buy Misoprostol Abortion Pill Online” 10 days earlier.
Digital evidence has also played a role in the arrest of Purvi Patel, the first woman in the US to be sentenced for “feticide” for ending her own pregnancy. The evidence found included texts she and a Michigan friend exchanged, and even a visit to a webpage entitled “National Abortion Federation: Abortion after Twelve Weeks.” Police found emails from a site where misoprostol and mifepristone pills could be purchased without a prescription. Such cases really prove that all kinds of digital evidence can be used to prosecute women seeking abortions.
However, tech companies should be doing more to help keep private matters private, especially since they are capable of doing so. Google on Friday announced it would delete location history when users visit an abortion clinic. The government also has the power to pass privacy regulations. Corynne McSherry, the legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says, “Privacy is a team sport — when you take steps to protect your own privacy, you also take steps to protect the community.”
However, activism movements are also gaining a foothold, such in Poland, where abortion is only legal if no one else aids the woman in her abortion. Groups like Abortions Without Borders not only send these pills to Polish women but also help those who seek abortions to travel to less restrictive countries. No woman should be alone in this kind of struggle, and like quoted in the article before, “Privacy is a team sport.”
Article: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1656875850946x921715788385584600/Police%20used%20texts%2C%20web%20searches%20for%20abortion%20to%20prosecute%20women%20-%20The%20Washington%20Post.pdf
