# Post-Roe life; Arrested for menstrual cycle app? Maybe so **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 27, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235 "2022-05-27T22:45:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/1 "2022-05-27T22:45:59Z")
According to a story on NPR’s Science Friday, women who track their menstrual cycles might find that info being snooped by anti-abortion police agencies. A woman who misses an expected period by a few weeks might find herself accused of having an abortion, even though irregular cycles are not unusual in normal life. Think your apps are safe from police snooping? Think again. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/2 "2022-05-28T14:00:17Z")
The mobile phone privacy (or lack thereof) impact on women who have abortions – or even think of having abortions – may reach far beyond just those apps that specifically deal with menstrual tracking or, more generally, womens’ health apps. Cell phones track your every call, your every text message, your location, your doctor visits, . . . It can be very difficult to discover all the things your phone is tracking about you, let alone how to disable that kind of stuff. > **[For people seeking abortions, digital privacy is suddenly critical](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/04/abortion-digital-privacy/)** > > Internet searches, visits to clinics and period-tracking apps leave a digital trail. How might a person’s data trail be treated as evidence after the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade? > **[Search histories, location data, text messages: How personal data could be...](https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/24/tech/abortion-laws-data-privacy)** > > The Supreme Court's Friday ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade is almost certain to spark a wave of new state legislation taking aim at abortion rights, and to reinforce existing laws that prohibit and, in some cases, criminalize the procedure. > **[Yes, Phones Can Reveal if Someone Gets an Abortion](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/yes-phones-can-reveal-if-someone-gets-an-abortion/)** > > To protect personal information from companies that sell data, some individuals are relying on privacy guides instead of government regulation or industry transparency ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/3 "2022-05-28T16:19:54Z")
Wow. I’m glad I’m almost out of time in this Brave New World. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/4 "2022-05-28T16:38:01Z")
You and me both! ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/5 "2022-05-28T20:17:28Z")
Yeah I’d say it’s a matter of when, not if data, from menstrual cycle apps are used to support a prosecution for abortion (if roe wade is overturned) I would personally support legislation in somewhere like California (which is both liberal and a big enough market that legislation there would probably force companies to the follow it) to ban companies from retaining information like that. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/6 "2022-05-29T04:11:01Z")
I should be getting my uterus removed in the winter after chemo. I’ve been wondering if they think cancer is a good reason for this or not. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/7 "2022-05-29T04:25:18Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > I should be getting my uterus removed in the winter after chemo. I’ve been wondering if they think cancer is a good reason for this or not.   Better get it done while and where it’s still legal! You could be charged with one count of eggslaughter for every ovum left stranded behind! [![](https://giraffeboards.com/images/smilies/addons/smack.gif) ](https://giraffeboards.com/images/smilies/addons/smack.gif) ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/8 "2022-05-29T04:32:01Z")
Originally they were going to remove it first. Then after looking at everything they decided chemo and radiation (halfway through that) first. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/9 "2022-05-29T12:37:20Z")
I’m male, and even were I female, I’m well past the age when menstrual cycles would be relevant, but the interactions of devices and databases creep me out sometimes. I recently got an email from my credit card company saying that they noted I’d purchased airline tickets to Phoenix and that they had taken the liberty of adding a comment to my file so that I wouldn’t get dinged for possible fraud when I used my credit card there. I guess it was convenient, and I knew they knew I bought the tickets, but I felt really funny about the Citicard folks keeping up with my movements. It’s like I used to joke about watching the Today show all over the country, and Willard Scott would give the national weather, and then he’d say “Here’s what’s happening in your neighborhood” and there’s be a local weather report. How’s Willard Scott keeping track of me I’d say. You pay for the convenience with your privacy and information. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/10 "2022-05-29T12:58:43Z")
If you paid for some tickets with a credit card, then by definition the credit-card company knows what you did. If you had bought the tickets with cash, they would not. One thing that is not clear is how Big Brother knows what anonymous apps someone might be using, and how sensitive medical information would make its way beyond the user’s control. It’s known that the FBI [purchased Israeli spyware for domestic surveillance](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/world/middleeast/israel-pegasus-spyware.html); is this tangentially related to that? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/11 "2022-05-29T18:03:51Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > One thing that is not clear is how Big Brother knows what anonymous apps someone might be using, They don’t need any 1984-style mass surveillance for that, the cop can just look on your home screen. Which (if you have locked your phone by face or fingerprint) you are required to show them without a warrant. > [@DPRK](#): > > and how sensitive medical information would make its way beyond the user’s control. The apps (just like pretty much any app) are not just storing your personal data locally on your phone. They are uploading it to thier server so they can sell it to third parties and make money (this is how apps like this make money). If the data is there on the companies server it’s fairly straightforward for the cops to get it with a warrant, once they have someone under investigation for allegedly having an abortion. I wouldn’t be surprised if when (due to striking down of Roe-Wade) this kind of prosecution is common, getting a warrant for any period tracking apps is standard practice. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/12 "2022-05-29T18:17:36Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > If you had bought the tickets with cash, they would not. Is that even possible in this age of Super Security Theater? I wouldn’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/13 "2022-05-29T19:20:46Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > They don’t need any 1984-style mass surveillance for that, the cop can just look on your home screen. Which (if you have locked your phone by face or fingerprint) you are required to show them without a warrant. Warrantless searches are legal now? I guess people have to set up their phones with a “self-destruct” unlock code for that rubber-hose decryption scenario. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/14 "2022-05-29T20:41:07Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Warrantless searches are legal now? I guess people have to set up their phones with a “self-destruct” unlock code for that rubber-hose decryption scenario. Yup, as they are deemed “nontestimonial” (like giving fingerprints or taking part in a line up) so not covered by 5th amendment… > **[Can Police Officers Force You to Unlock Your Cellphone?](https://jsberrylaw.com/blog/can-police-officers-force-you-to-unlock-your-cellphone/)** > > Can police force you to unlock your cellphone? Know your rights. Consult Berry Law for expert legal advice and protection of your privacy. > [@](#): > > Alternatively, police officers can force you to use your face to unlock your cellphone because you are not disclosing any knowledge by simply holding the phone in front of your face. The same reasoning applies to fingerprint identification – police officers can force you to place your finger or thumb on the sensor to unlock your cellphone. These are nontestimonial acts which are not disclosing your knowledge. > > It is easy to think that the private information stored on your cellphone is secure if you have any type of lock in place. That may be true when it comes to the general public not having access to your cellphone information. However, even facial recognition or a fingerprint lock will not keep out police officers these days. Having a pattern lock or a passcode/password on your cellphone is the safest way to ensure that police officers cannot force you to unlock it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/15 "2022-05-29T20:55:43Z")
Ten years ago, I would have called the OP an utter crackpot. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/16 "2022-05-29T22:50:14Z")
I fear for 10 years from now. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/17 "2022-05-29T22:55:32Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > The apps (just like pretty much any app) are not just storing your personal data locally on your phone. They are uploading it to thier server so they can sell it to third parties and make money (this is how apps like this make money). If the data is there on the companies server it’s fairly straightforward for the cops to get it with a warrant, once they have someone under investigation for allegedly having an abortion. Heaven forbid you should look up the price of the morning-after pill or RU486 on GoodRx or RxSaver. Selling your prescription info is exactly what they’re in business for. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2022, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/18 "2022-05-30T02:48:44Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Ten years ago, I would have called the OP a crackpot. Only a decade ago? Don’t forget [Project Carnivore](https://wiki2.org/en/Project_Carnivore) was being implemented (upgraded, really) a quarter-century ago. Because it drew such criticism from liberals like us Cecilians, the US Government announced the project was scuttled. The next year DC1000 went live with no fuss, fanfare, or notice. In the years since the Internet became commercialized far superior tools have been created ‘for their own private usage’ by commercial entities – Google, Akamai, et cetera. I think all of us guys (and girls, but particularly guys) should make a point of regularly checking out menstrual tracking apps and Morning After pills and all that stuff. You want to come after me because I might have had an abortion? How do you honestly think I got pregnant? That should throw the statistical engines for a loop! 🤪 –G! It’s been quite a while. It’s good to see a lot of you are still around. [Sorry if you’re thinking “Awww shit, G’s back!”] ---
**Author:** ![LilXMo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lilxmo/32/4225_2.png) [@LilXMo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilXMo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2022, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/19 "2022-05-30T03:04:34Z")
This article says “State health officials are not subject to state privacy laws”. Big Brother already tracking women’s periods. From Washington Post October 30, 2019: # Missouri reviewed data about Planned Parenthood’s patients, including their periods, to identify failed abortions By [Yasmeen Abutaleb](https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/yasmeen-abutaleb/) and [Emily Wax-Thibodeaux](https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/emily-wax-thibodeaux/) October 30, 2019 at 6:15 p.m. EDT ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2022, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235/20 "2022-05-30T04:42:11Z")
> [@Grestarian](#): > > I think all of us guys (and girls, but particularly guys) should make a point of regularly checking out menstrual tracking apps and Morning After pills and all that stuff. You want to come after me because I might have had an abortion? How do you honestly think I got pregnant? That should throw the statistical engines for a loop! A good idea (and welcome back!). Similar to what I was considering when there was a lot of loose talk a few years back about having some kind of “database” for Muslims in the US. 🙄 Get a bunch of non-Muslim Americans to nominally convert to Islam and noisy up the database. Although, tbf, the algorithms probably have some fairly simple filters for weeding out those anomalies so I’m not sure how much use it would be. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-roe-life-arrested-for-menstrual-cycle-app-maybe-so/965235.md?page=2)