Protesters gather at the U.S. Supreme Court in May 2022. Drew Petrimorx/Shutterstock
Two years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson transformed the lives of fertile people, access to safe abortions and reproductive health care has become more difficult more broadly, and the number of places, especially online, where people seeking information about abortion and other sensitive reproductive health care are subject to scrutiny and punishment has only grown.
This is a dangerous trend, and one way to keep pregnant people, those who might be pregnant, and those who support them safe is to protect their anonymity online.
Those seeking abortions face many obstacles, including public pressure and prejudice, barriers to accessing medical care, and even domestic violence from abusive partners, making this an extremely private decision. Following the Dobbs decision, civil lawsuits, criminal investigations, and even prosecutions are very real possibilities facing some of those seeking abortions. Those seeking abortions now navigate a complex maze of rules and opinions designed not only to inhibit but to actively endanger the autonomy of those who can conceive. Those who simply provide information about abortion and other forms of reproductive health care face similar threats, and law enforcement agencies consistently use information collected online to support their claims. In Nebraska, for example, Facebook direct messages between a woman and her daughter were submitted as evidence to arrest the mother for allegedly aiding and abetting an abortion.
Seeking the care you need can come at a great cost to a pregnant woman’s safety, and online anonymity helps keep them safe as they make these difficult decisions.
As online communities become increasingly essential to accessing trustworthy abortion-related information, technologies such as end-to-end encrypted communications services, virtual private networks, and anonymity help protect abortion seekers and their online activities from surveillance and investigation. These tools, previously the domain of digital security specialists, are now a critical part of the toolkit for protecting abortion seekers.
For example, consider the situation of messaging a friend to pick you up from an abortion clinic. By making end-to-end encrypted direct messages the standard, companies can ensure that only the individual who sent or received the message can access the contents of that message. While most people consider private direct messages they send to others to be indeed private, if they are not encrypted, they are open to both companies and law enforcement, who can request a subpoena to access the communications.
Alternatively, people can seek out online communities and message boards to get information about reproductive health care or to provide health care to others. Anonymity helps people access the information they need while still maintaining privacy. Professor Casey Fiesler of the University of Colorado at Boulder wrote a few weeks ago about why online communities are the go-to place for people looking for health support or specific resources. Online spaces like subreddits and Discord servers help people grieving pregnancy losses or wanting to hear about the experiences of others who have taken mifepristone turn to one another. But with increased scrutiny of abortion seekers and the threat of criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits, these communities shrink when users are required to identify themselves by their government-issued full name, provide identifying information to access information, or have their online activity accessed and shared in other ways. Anonymity helps people connect and helps pregnant people get the support they need without fear of public scrutiny or retaliation.
For transgender people who become pregnant, answers to questions about where to get an abortion, how the abortion pill interacts with hormone therapy or gender-affirming drugs, and general mental and health support can be especially difficult to obtain, given the compounded attacks on abortion pills and transgender access to health care and identity in the United States. These communities rely heavily on online communities to access important information and support, while also being at higher risk of harm from surveillance and inadvertent outing. The same steps to protect their anonymity can help ease that burden and ensure access to critically important resources.
Ensuring anonymity goes a long way to protecting pregnant women – and it helps all of us. User-to-user communications are some of the most personal data held by companies, and standardizing encryption is a simple step to protect all users from surveillance. Companies should be transparent with users even when messages are not encrypted, and ensure they provide the information users need to understand the risks they are taking.
Companies should also allow users to use their services anonymously by protecting “logged-out” access to their sites, so that users can access forums and message boards without logging in. And if users create an account, companies should minimize the data they collect so that users can interact with them without revealing their identity. As my organization, the Center for Democracy and Technology, noted in a report on Protecting Reproductive Privacy, minimizing the collection and retention of data such as search history, location data, browsing history, and purchase history also protects users by preventing law enforcement or bad actors from accessing data that could reveal sensitive information about their health or choices.
Companies have a vital role to play in protecting the right to reproductive health care. But policymakers also have a key role to play. Legislators who want to protect pregnant people and their right to choose must also protect all users’ privacy and anonymous access to information. That means not enacting laws that undermine encrypted communications and opposing requirements to filter content on end-to-end encrypted services. Policymakers should also resist attempts to require or encourage online services to verify users’ age or identity; doing so will only allow online services to create richer digital profiles of all of us and further reduce our ability to browse the web anonymously.
Even though information about abortion care has become more readily available in recent years, access to that information has become more precarious for many. Online communities have become essential infrastructure for people seeking abortions, and allowing people to access these spaces anonymously can help them get the care they need to stay safe. Protecting anonymous access to information may one day help you or a loved one get the care they need.
