Secret termination is common in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines, where women use nicknames on Facebook and in mobile chat groups on mobile apps Telegram and Signal to access abortion pills and illegal abortion providers.
But from the Philippines to Chile, abortion rights activists say U.S. anti-abortion measures are raising concerns that women seeking termination can be traced because of their Internet search history or location data.
Clara Pedilla, attorney and spokeswoman for the Philippine Safe Abortion Advocacy Network, said: “Given the US trend, if Filipino women are more afraid to go online for information … it will only lead to more unsafe abortions.”
“They go online for support and advice because abortion is so stigmatized and dangerous in this country … they want to do it safely,” said Padilla, who urges local police not to prosecute women for abortion during gender sensitivity training. , He said. Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Many women in the Philippines lack access to contraception, and in any case a ban on abortion can result in up to six years in prison for terminating a pregnancy – one of the most prohibited laws in the world.
So far, no action has been taken against abortion seekers in the country based on their online activity, Padilla said.
a Data Privacy Act Protects personal information and requires a cybercrime warrant to obtain information from the platform, she added.
But many countries do not have such laws, and the anti-abortion shift in the United States has also sparked a worldwide debate about the safety of mobile health apps, which are used to track fertility.
A 2019 study in the British Medical Journal found that health apps regularly share sensitive consumer data with third parties, including social media firms, data brokers and advertisers.
Data leaks
The use of fertility apps is growing rapidly in Asia, with research firm Statista estimating it to reach about $ 100 million this year with such apps in the region.
But many Asian countries lack strong data protection laws, including India where the fertility app Maya was reported in 2019 to share users ’reproductive health data with Facebook for ads targeted by digital rights group Privacy International.
At the time, the app – which then had about 7 million downloads – said it did not share any “personally identifiable data or medical data.”
Sheroes, the company that owns the app, did not respond to a request for comment on whether it has changed its policy.
Without data protection laws in India, users are at the mercy of apps, said Anushka Jain, a collaborator Internet Freedom FoundationAn advocacy group in Delhi.
“Healthcare data Requires a high level of protection, especially reproduction Health care Data but it’s really up to these private companies how they protect the data, ”she said.
Jain said that while India has rules for the protection of “sensitive personal data”, it is not strictly enforced and does not apply to government and public agencies.
This is worrying, she added, as there have been many major breaches of the reproductive health data of millions of women held by federal and state agencies in India recently.
According to the virtual private network SurfShark, India had the highest data breach last year. Digital rights groups say the weak cyber points to a lack of security and accountability.
Serious security
Period tracking apps are also widely used in Latin America, where a handful of countries have recently eased abortion restrictions amid growing opposition to some of the world’s stricter rules.
Some countries in the region have data protection laws that allow the collection of personal data with the consent of the user.
But users often consent without knowing what is involved or companies may not be completely transparent about how the data is used, said Juan Carlos Lara, director of the Chilean nonprofit Derekos Digitalless (Digital Rights).
“The collection of personal data of people using reproductive health apps in Latin America has long been a concern,” he said.
“Rules may be inadequate to control abuse.”
Calendario do Periodo (Period Calendar), an app that runs under different names in different countries, was featured in a 2018 study of period tracking apps by Brazilian think-tank Coding Rights, which provided clear information on user data such as photos and files, and privacy. Does not provide.
A My Calendar spokesperson, the owner of the app, did not respond to a question about whether he had changed his policy.
Lara said she is also concerned about the possibility of digital tracking to see if someone has used medical services, contacted the fertility helpline or purchased certain medications.
Although this is not done for abortion seekers, “there is a risk if the authority can request this data from companies or worse, if they can access someone’s devices,” he said.
Mobile and computer seizures are common in Latin America to find evidence of suspected crimes, he said.
“That’s why it’s so important to build serious organizational security so that executives don’t have unrestricted access to data in the hands of companies or devices in people’s hands,” he added.
