Health data privacy post-Roe: can our information be used against us?

The patchwork of federal, state and company protections remains hard to navigate a year after the Dobbs decision

The supreme court's decision to overturn federal abortion protections last year sent shock waves throughout the US. Suddenly, an individual choice that was once legally sanctioned was at risk of becoming the subject of criminal investigations in many states across the country.

As public attention turned to such prosecutions, major tech companies faced questions over the ways they collect and store users' data amid concerns it could be used in abortion-related investigations. In August 2022, Facebook came under scrutiny after it was revealed law enforcement in Nebraska was prosecuting a mother and daughter for seeking and aiding an unlawful abortion in a case that was partly based on Facebook messages.