In a historic 6-3 decision on June 24, the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion. Soon after the decision was announced, a worried call to action quickly arose online: Delete your period tracking apps.
Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab)It's not the first time this sentiment has bubbled up on the internet. Earlier this year, when the Supreme Court leak warned us of the decision to come, the same message spread across Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and more. Women and people with uteruses who rely on these apps to monitor their health were suddenly fearful of how their collected data could be used against them in a hypothetical criminal case about abortion. With this latest Supreme Court decision — and Judge Thomas's call to the court to further examine precedent-setting right-to-privacy cases like Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell — that hypothetical seems a lot more possible.
Here's what you need to know about the ways period tracking apps treat your data, and how that could affect your reproductive health care.
SEE ALSO: Your privacy is at risk now that Roe v. Wade has fallen, experts warn
Can apps just turn over your data?
On a typical period tracking app, users enter data like what day their flow started and stopped, how heavy it might be, and other bodily symptoms. The app then usually learns the user's patterns and helps to predict when their next period may come, when they might be most fert ..
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