Tag: abortion

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Biden order fortifies data privacy ahead of state-by-state legal battle over abortion

An executive order signed by President Biden places the White House’s weight firmly behind states where access to abortion is guaranteed, urging the FTC and other executive entities to examine and reinforce data protection policies. Without a digital trail to follow, attempts to criminalize private medical activity across borders may prove far more difficult.

The legal battles ahead over reproductive rights in the post-Roe era will likely be complex and unprecedented, and data will be an important part of them. As a medical procedure, abortion is covered under the federal patient privacy law HIPAA, but that will likely conflict with state rules demanding disclosure. Furthermore, digital services like period-tracking apps and even fitness and wellness platforms may track and even sell data that could be incriminating.

The executive order fundamentally limited in what it can achieve (as many will recall, Trump issued dozens to little effect), but it does emphasize which and where federal resources will be deployed in the legal conflicts to come. The full text of the EO is here, but let’s look at the portions most immediately relevant to the tech industry. (Quoted text is very lightly edited for brevity.)

First, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will issue a report…

…identifying ways to increase outreach and education about access to reproductive healthcare services, including by launching a public awareness initiative to provide timely and accurate information about such access, which shall…

share information about how to obtain free or reduced cost reproductive healthcare services through Health Resources and Services Administration-Funded Health Centers, Title X clinics, and other providers; and…

include promoting awareness of and access to the full range of contraceptive services, as well as know-your-rights information for those seeking or providing reproductive healthcare services

This is clearly directed at attempts to limit the information available to people seeking care; some states plan to make it difficult to know what options are actually available, whether it’s legal to travel to another state for a procedure or medication (it is), and so on. While the feds can’t force, say, a state health agency to provide information on where to get abortion pills or the like, they can ensure that this information is available in the state through other means. They may even get a foot in the door with hospitals and clinics that take federal funding.

While that may seem elementary (of course the federal government can put whatever it wants on its own sites), the real goal here is enumerating the ways that states will attempt to control information and how best to counteract those.

Next, federal entities including the Attorney General and Homeland Security will “consider actions” to address new safety and security risks associated with providing or seeking reproductive care.

To address the potential threat to patient privacy caused by the transfer and sale of sensitive health-related data and by digital surveillance related to reproductive healthcare services, and to protect people seeking reproductive health services from fraudulent schemes or deceptive practices:

The Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is encouraged to consider actions… to protect consumers’ privacy when seeking information about and provision of reproductive healthcare services.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall consider actions, including providing guidance under [HIPAA], and any other statutes as appropriate, to strengthen the protection of sensitive information related to reproductive healthcare services and bolster patient-provider confidentiality.

The first part of this is clearly a warning to major tech companies like Google and Meta, which have means and opportunity to track people’s behavior down a disturbingly granular level. We’ve all read horror stories about people seeing ads for baby products before they’ve announced they’re pregnant. Now imagine if a state required a company to disclose if a user had discussed or was algorithmically categorized as seeking an abortion.

Congress probes period tracking apps and data brokers over abortion privacy concerns

Protecting people from “fraudulent schemes” seems less an issue than the everyday trade in potentially sensitive information to the likes of data brokers. The FTC may very well issue guidance on this issue pertaining to claims of “privacy” that are not borne out by a company’s actual practices.

The HIPAA part is a difficult one, as there will almost certainly be a direct conflict between federal non-disclosure laws and state forced-disclosure laws that will have to be worked out in court. While that is likely to be a years-long conflict and speculation upon its outcome would be fruitless at this stage, in states where abortion remains legal it may be simpler.

Health and Human Services is likely to issue guidance and interpretation of HIPAA regulations that favor privacy in a fashion specifically tailored to spoiling cross-border requests. If state law and federal law stack up to protect a patient’s privacy, suits and requests from states looking to criminalize behavior in neighboring jurisdictions may be non-starters.

The next section adds to this in that the AG will provide “technical assistance” to states on the matter of protection out-of-state patients, which is as much as saying “let’s write that law together.”

To some, this executive order will appear to be something of a nothingburger; and indeed if this is all the administration can bring to bear after weeks of inaction, that is justifiably disappointing to those urging more concrete action. But although it accomplishes little on its own, it clearly shows the administration’s intent to, at the very least, stand behind states fighting to protect reproductive rights rather than those curtailing them.

8 ways the tech industry can step up to protect abortion rights

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Facebook and Instagram are removing posts offering to mail abortion pills

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, some Facebook and Instagram users planning to help distribute legal abortion pills are finding themselves censored.

According to a Motherboard report, users on Friday began seeing Facebook remove posts offering to mail abortion pills — the same day that the Supreme Court issued the ruling.

Remarkably, Facebook’s moderation on the issue was so aggressive that users saw their posts removed within seconds. One user observed that their account was suspended after a post that read “I will mail abortion pills to any one of you. Just message me.”

Motherboard was able to replicate the phenomenon, also earning a 24-hour account suspension in the process. The key phrase for automated removal appears to be “abortion pills” as other posts with other combination of terms didn’t flag the platform’s moderation systems.

The Associated Press reported similar behavior on Instagram, with some users seeing their posts offering to support others in obtaining abortion pills removed “within moments.” The AP made a test post repeating the message about abortion pills and also saw the message removed in less than a minute.

Meta Policy Communications Director Andy Stone addressed in a Twitter reply reports of both platforms censoring posts about abortion pills, noting that the company’s policies do not allow transactions of prescription drugs.

Stone admitted that Meta found “some instances of incorrect enforcement” of its rules, though declined to clarify in more detail. He did not explain why posts with the phrase “abortion pills” saw such swift enforcement, even while other prohibited content about guns, pain pills and cannabis did not.

Stone cited Meta’s rules on restricted goods and services, which prohibit efforts to buy, sell or trade pharmaceuticals except in cases where “legitimate healthcare e-commerce businesses” offer delivery.

Instagram also tweeted Tuesday that some users were seeing “sensitivity screens” hiding posts that shouldn’t be hidden. The company called the behavior a bug and confirmed to TechCrunch that it was related to user reports about abortion-related content being censored. A Meta spokesperson noted that posts about abortion aren’t the only topic affected by the “bug,” but did not name other kinds of content that were affected.

With the aftershocks of the Supreme Court’s Roe decision beginning to reverberate, prescription abortion pills are poised to be a topic of extreme controversy. The White House issued a fact sheet on Friday noting the administration’s plans to defend access to mifepristone, which has been FDA approved to end pregnancy for over two decades.

The fact sheet mentioned that the Biden administration would work with Health and Human Services to “identify all ways” to maximize access to mifepristone, including through telehealth and the mail. As the legal status of mifepristone faces potential future state-level challenges, Biden’s Department of Justice could also become involved.

“And we stand ready to work with other arms of the federal government that seek to use their lawful authorities to protect and preserve access to reproductive care,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “… States may not ban Mifepristone based on disagreement with the FDA’s expert judgment about its safety and efficacy.”

Tech companies respond to US Supreme Court abortion decision

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Tech companies respond to U.S. Supreme Court abortion decision

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a major decision on abortion today, overturning Roe v. Wade in declarding that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee the right to abortion. While the outcome was expected — a draft decision leaked months ago — the implications for the broader tech industry are only starting to become clear.

In the 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution “makes no reference to abortion” and that “no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.” Writing the majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito — joined by the court’s other conservative justices, including Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — tossed out Roe as well as a Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1992 Supreme Court decision upholding abortion rights.

At issue in the case that triggered today’s ruling, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, was a Mississippi law that banned nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Over 20 states, anticipating Roe’s demise, drafted similar laws banning or severely restriction abortion and signaled their intent to enforce them once the Supreme Court’s decision was made final.

TechCrunch reached out to several major companies, including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, for their responses.

Microsoft, via a spokesperson, said that it will “do everything [it] can under the law”  to support its employees and their dependents in accessing healthcare regardless of where they live across the U.S. Prior to the decision, the company included services like abortion and “gender-affirming” care in its health plans — and this won’t change. Microsoft says it will also continue to pays travel expense assistance for “lawful medical services” where access to care is “limited in availability in an employee’s home geographic region.”

EBay told TechCrunch that, effective June 8, 2022, it expanded benefits so employees and their beneficiaries can be reimbursed to travel in the U.S. to receive access to abortion treatment if it’s not available locally. The company says that the process will be managed through its healthcare carriers to maintain confidentiality.

“EBay has always been committed to providing our employees with full, fair, and timely access to healthcare. Our programs have long included benefits for reproductive health, gender affirmation treatments, and other healthcare services,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch via email.

Elsewhere, Momentive (formerly SurveyMonkey) told employees Friday that it will cover employee and dependent costs for travel for abortion, infertility, and gender-affirming care. Netflix and Twilio, too, plan to pay for employees forced to travel to receive abortions; Twilio said it will make a $100,000 donation to the Center for Reproductive Rights.

“Netflix offers a travel reimbursement coverage for U.S. full-time employees and their dependents who need to travel for cancer treatment, transplants, gender affirming care, or abortion through our U.S. health plans,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch. “This is a $10,000 lifetime allowance per employee and/or their dependents per service.”

Twitter declined to comment.

A number of tech companies offered comparable policies prior to the Supreme Court’s decision. Box, which in a statement said that it was “disappointed” in today’s outcome, offers paid time off and travel and medical expenses for “critical reproductive healthcare services.” Apple’s benefits cover costs needed to travel out of state for medical care. And Salesforce gives employees the option to relocate if they or family members are impacted by laws restricting their access to reproductive healthcare.

Bumble and The Match Group, which owns dating apps like Hinge and Match.com, have publicly stated that they’re setting up funds to cover costs for Texas-based employees who need to travel for abortion care. (Bumble, which is headquartered in Austin, says that it will make additional contributions to the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and Planned Parenthood Federation of America in addition.) HP has said its health plans cover abortion and helps employees seek out-of-state care. And both Lyft and Uber have pledged to create legal defense funds in the event any Texas- or Oklahoma-based drivers are penalized for transporting a pregnant person to an appointment for an abortion.

Both Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase pay for travel to states that allow abortion. So does Tesla, Yelp, and Amazon, the latter of which has offered to cover up to $4,000 a year in travel expenses for employees seeking “non-threatening” medical care including abortions.

It’s important to note, of course, that many companies — even those publicly supporting abortion rights or offering benefits to that effect — have donated to campaigns advocating for abortion restrictions. As Slate recently reported, Citigroup has given over $6.2 million to the Republican Party and nearly half a million to various GOP candidates in Texas alone. Yelp, Uber, and Lyft have also contributed tens of thousand of dollars combined to anti-abortion lawmakers over the last few years.

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As Roe v. Wade looms, should you delete your period-tracking app?

The U.S. Supreme Court is anticipated to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case which guaranteed a person’s constitutional right to abortion, allowing states to decide whether to heavily regulate or ban the procedure. This reported move, based on a leaked draft of an opinion that hasn’t yet been issued but would mean abortion rights would be protected in less than half of all U.S. states, has reignited the years-long conversation about the privacy — or lack thereof — of period-tracking apps, which are used by nearly a third of women in the U.S.

Though popular, and undoubtedly a useful tool for those who want to plan and avoid pregnancy and track signs of menopause, it’s no secret that the objective of many of these apps — of which there are more than a thousand in the app stores alone — go far beyond that of tracking periods. Monitoring menstrual cycles has proven to be a lucrative business for developers, many of which share users’ personal information and activity on the apps with third-party marketers and advertisers.

With that in mind, and in light of the reported decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, some are calling for people to delete their period-tracking apps amid fears that the data they collect — and subsequently share — could be used to target and punish those seeking an abortion.

Eva Galperin, director of Cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, tells TechCrunch: “I do think that we are facing a future in which the data collected by period-tracking apps could be used either as a dragnet to identify women who may have had an abortion or as evidence that a woman has had an abortion in a future in which seeking out or having an abortion is criminalized, which is something anti-abortion advocates have been eager to do.”

Should you be worried?

These widely-shared fears are by no means unfounded. People who use a period-tracking app input the most intimate details about themselves, such as the dates of their periods, their weight, and the last time they had unprotected sex.

But unlike medical records held by doctors and hospitals, the information collected by these apps isn’t covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the 1996 federal law that limits where healthcare providers can share patients’ health information. That means health app makers are mostly free to do what they want with the data they collect.

“It is abortion providers and people working in abortion support networks who are in the most immediate danger right now.” Eva Galperin, EFF

However, while in no way unreasonable to expect the worst, it’s unlikely that self-reported menstrual cycle data will fall into the hands of authorities and lead to widespread hunts for people who seek an abortion or who previously got one.

For starters, there’s the issue of accuracy. Period-tracking apps are often erroneous, and a person’s menstrual cycle is sensitive to a number of external factors such as exercise, stress, medications, and even family drama. Experts agree that information such as the day of ovulation and the fertile window can only be predicted precisely if using a marker of ovulation, such as basal body temperature or ovulation sticks, and a 2018 study found that the accuracy of prediction by menstrual cycle apps was no better than 21%.

This means that there’s a lot of reasonable doubt surrounding this data, which ultimately means it’s unlikely going to be accepted as evidence in a U.S. court setting, where “beyond a reasonable doubt” is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction.

Last month, we also witnessed a Texas judge dismiss a murder charge against a 26-year-old woman in Texas who had her pregnancy terminated after her healthcare provider reported her self-managed abortion. Abortion was made illegal in Texas in September 2021. While there is ultimately no law in Texas that criminalizes a person trying to end their pregnancy nor is there a requirement for healthcare providers to inform authorities about self-managed abortion, anyone who performs or aids the person seeking the abortion can still face civil penalties.

“It is abortion providers and people working in abortion support networks who are in the most immediate danger right now,” Galperin says.

What should you be worried about?

Data belonging to pregnant women, as well as that belonging to women actively trying to get pregnant or not wanting to get pregnant, is immensely valuable to advertisers then use this data to strategically target them.

While it’s unlikely the sensitive data you share with your period-tracking app is going to end up in the hands of those seeking to outlaw abortion, that’s not to say these tools don’t have extensive privacy problems, including the aforementioned issue of sharing your personal data with third parties.

A 2020 Consumer Reports investigation examined five popular period tracking apps — BabyCenter, Clue, Flo, My Calendar, and Ovia — and found that they all shared user data with third parties for marketing and other purposes. Privacy International, which conducted a similar study, shared similar results; it found that the most popular apps both store and share a “dizzying” amount of data on users. It called out Flo, in particular, for retaining data on what users write in their “notes” section, such as how hard it was for them to orgasm and the medication they are taking.

Flo is a repeat offender when it comes to privacy infractions. The company, which has more than 150 million users, last year reached a settlement with the FTC over allegations it shared users’ health data with third-party app analytics and marketing services like Facebook, despite promising to keep users’ sensitive health data private. This action followed a 2019 investigation by the Wall Street Journal that found that the app had informed Facebook of in-app activity, such as when a user was having their period or had informed it of an intention to get pregnant.

In a statement given to TechCrunch, Flo spokesperson Denae Thibault said that the company does not share users’ health data with third parties. “We firmly believe women’s health data should be held with the utmost privacy and care. In fact, in March 2022 Flo completed an external, independent privacy audit which confirmed there are no gaps or weaknesses in our privacy practices,” Thibault added.

Other apps have fallen foul of similar data-sharing practices. In 2020, California reached a settlement — which included a $250,000 fine — with period-tracking app Glow after Consumer Reports found that users’ sensitive data was accessible to anyone who knew a user’s email address. The Washington Post also reported that the Android edition of fertility app Premom was sharing users’ data with three Chinese companies focused on advertising, and that pregnancy-tracking app Ovia was sharing users’ health data with their employers.

While alarming, there’s an even bigger issue: data brokers. These external third parties often have a relationship with data brokers, individuals, or organizations that collect, aggregate, and combine personal information from a variety of sources to create a digital profile on you and sell it to others. A study by the Norwegian Consumer Council examined 10 popular apps, including Clue, and found that they were collectively feeding personal information to at least 135 companies.

What’s more, even when your data is de-identified by removing identifiable information such as your name or email address, it can be combined with other information — such as your location, contacts, or unique identifiers in your phone — and traced back to you.

“Often, location data can be associated with an advertising ID, an identifier generated by the phone’s operating system that can be used by advertisers in apps and websites to uniquely identify a user online and offer services such as targeted advertising,” said Laura Lazaro Cabrera, legal officer at Privacy International. “In previous research, PI has identified targeted advertising of scientifically dubious health information as a tactic deployed by those opposing abortion.”

Should you delete your period-tracking app?

This is a difficult and complex question to answer. For some, period-tracking apps can be incredibly useful tools; not only can they empower people by helping them to learn more about their body and how it changes with their cycle, but any recorded irregularities could potentially be a sign of hormonal, thyroid, or hematologic issues.

And while the risks associated with the lax privacy of some of these apps have been highlighted in response to the reported plan to overturn Roe v. Wade, the majority of these aren’t limited to period-tracking apps. Most of the other apps installed on your smartphone also collect data — including your location — that can identify where you go, who you meet, and what you do. Thankfully, on Android and iOS, you have the ability to prevent apps — including period trackers — from collecting and sharing your data.

However, the complexity arises from the intimacy of the data users are sharing with period-tracking tools.

“Having your personal health information disseminated in ways you’re unaware of could have serious repercussions,” said Dena Mendelsohn, Consumer Report’s senior counsel on privacy and technology policy. “It could, for instance, affect your ability to obtain life insurance and how much you pay for that coverage, increase the interest rate you’re charged on loans, and even leave you vulnerable to workplace discrimination.”

It’s difficult to say whether deleting your period-tracking app is the best course of action, particularly as in some cases it’s unclear whether all of your historical data will be wiped from these developers’ servers as a result.

“Deleting the app does not guarantee that one’s data will be automatically erased — in reality, the opposite is likely to be true,” Cabrera said. “Generally, unless the user expressly requests for their data to be deleted, the app will commonly retain the data for a period of time after deletion of the app.”

Clue, Flo and Ovia all confirmed to TechCrunch that all user data is deleted should a user delete their account.

EFF’s Galperin recommends that for those seeking abortions, assistance with their abortions or information about abortions, a heightened sense of operational security — especially in regards to apps, search engines and location-tracking — should be the number one priority.

“I’ve spent most of my career helping to protect activists and journalists in authoritarian countries, where it is often wise to think several steps ahead about your digital privacy and security practices,” she tells TechCrunch. “Unfortunately, I think it is also time to bring this mindset to abortion services and the people who are seeking them out.”

It’s also worth familiarizing yourself with the privacy practices of your period-tracking app of choice, many of which have seemingly improved in light of the multiple investigations that probed the often careless data-sharing practices of these services.

For those who live in states where police can compel you to biometrically unlock your devices — either using your fingerprint or face scan — you might want to turn off the biometric unlock feature on your phone and instead use a PIN code, which you cannot be forced to disclose. Police often use mobile forensic tools to download the contents of a person’s phone, which can be used as evidence against them.

“Ovia operates a comprehensive privacy and security program to protect user privacy, as described in our privacy policy,” Ovia spokesperson Cassandre Charles told TechCrunch. “We allow users to delete their data, to obtain copies of their data, and to correct their data. We only share data in limited circumstances as described in our privacy policy,” such as with the companies it uses to host customer data and provide customer support.

Clue, which ranked as the most privacy-conscious app in Consumer Reports’ study, told TechCrunch: “We have received messages from users concerned about how their data could be used by U.S. courts if Roe v. Wade is overturned. We completely understand this anxiety, and we want to reassure you that your health data, particularly any data you track in Clue about pregnancies, pregnancy loss, or abortion, is kept private and safe.”

Period-tracking apps should be an empowering experience and not one where user data is exploited. In light of recent events, we recommend that people using these apps extend that empowerment to their personal security; choose to use apps that allow people to use them without creating an account, change the privacy settings to restrict data access, and be aware of the developers’ privacy policies.

Ultimately, however, if you’re worried about your data, privacy, or the potential risks associated with using a period-tracker, it might be time to delete your app and rely on pen and paper instead.

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8 ways the tech industry can step up to protect abortion rights

It looks as if the right to have an abortion will be curtailed nationwide with the revocation of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court’s majority. While the fight for reproductive rights will continue in courts and capitals, this is an opportunity for startups and tech to play an important role in keeping abortion safe, convenient and private.

While it’s dangerous to rely on private companies for such important matters, they are the only ones capable of doing what needs to be done on short notice; the government is a lost cause, large corporations are equivocating and the medical and insurance establishment will simply follow the money.

Technotopianism is a dangerous illusion, but founders and startups are in the right place at the right time to make a difference. Here are 8 ways they can help.

1. An easy to use, totally private app for contraceptive options

You can open an app and get practically anything delivered to you next day, so why not abortion pills? There are certainly some web-based services that do this already, like Plan C, Hey Jane and others. That is fantastic. But if you search for “abortion” on the app store, you get sexual health tracking and clinic-listing apps. There should be an app that makes this process as easy as checking your prescriptions or ordering contact refills.

It’s not that apps are totally necessary for this, but we’re at the point where health care of all kinds is being digitized from end to end and apps are potentially the most convenient and secure way of doing that. This opportunity should be embraced in every aspect of the healthcare world, including reproductive health.

The question is, what rules will it break and how will new laws apply? Will Apple permit it on the store? Will Google? Will payment providers balk the way they have with other state-by-state permissions like cannabis? I hope that someone will say damn the torpedoes and just go for it.

Virtual clinic Hey Jane raises $2.2M to solve for state anti-abortion legislation

2. Easy abortion benefits and other contraceptive care (for all employees)

Companies large and small are increasingly offloading their benefits processes to others that specialize in providing them. Will those companies step up to the plate and make abortion care — and covering the costs of leaving the state to get it — part of their standard offering?

Whether they do or not, this may require a new or improved layer connecting benefits companies with providers of contraceptive care of all kinds. Costs and methods will differ widely depending on states and incoming laws. But front-loading that work and making it easy on those big corporate customers makes it that much more likely that they’ll opt in.

Worth adding here is that this should be provided, like other benefits, to all employees, including those in the hourly and contractor categories. People without job security or other benefits are especially vulnerable and need this form of support as much or more than others. (Looking at you, Amazon. We all know you can afford it.)

3. Legal defense mechanisms

Some states’ measures against abortions include legal consequences or even actual charges for people seeking or providing care (of course this is not without precedent — just a return to barbarity). Being threatened with these will no doubt have a chilling effect and potentially irreversible consequences for many people.

However, some startups have begun to make money by the occasionally dubious process of automated contesting of tickets and other legal disputes. If, as seems likely given the rather shaky, ad-hoc status of these anti-abortion laws, there is a standard method of responding to and defanging these legal threats, an app or simple online process like those used to contest parking fines would be a great use of resources and one that would likely see support by many advocacy organizations.

This, like the app for finding abortion services, must be free and easy to use; people in the position of choosing between an unwanted pregnancy and charges from the state often lack resources and this process must accommodate that.

4. Glassdoor for reproductive care

Whether an employer is willing to provide or cover the cost of abortion care is going to be a very important question for prospective workers, likely for at least a few years. Making that information available ahead of time will save everyone a lot of grief. Since most companies won’t want to advertise this widely, for fear of appearing to take a political stance, it will likely be necessary to have a third party tracking this information.

Transparency is as important for reproductive care as it is for anything other condition of working at a company. And if companies are having their policies leaked anyway, they might decide to be more public about what they offer.

5. Funds (and funding seekers) take a stand

Venture capital funds have a huge influence on what startups make it past the idea phase. A commitment from some of the major ones to back reproductive health startups would be helpful in creating a community of confidence around this sector.

Female Founders Fund closes third fund with $57M for female founders

As a startup, it may be worth considering who you pitch and how, since some funds or groups may consider this along the lines of sex tech instead of health tech. That’s wrong and indicative of a worldview that likely does not match up well to a company looking to change how we approach contraception and reproductive health. The last thing you want is a board member pressuring you to go in a different direction in deference to their institutional scruples.

For that matter, it’s several kinds of disaster when it’s discovered that an investor or board member is also investing or advising something antithetical to your mission and ideals. It’s not about establishing political compliance but choosing people to back you who actually share your values and priorities.

6. Privacy guarantees from Big Tech

At this point every aspect of our lives is tracked and recorded by companies like Google, Meta and Amazon so they can better target us for products and services. The difference is that it’s not illegal in any state to find and receive treatment for diabetes or an STI. The last thing we need is nosy authorities pressuring data brokers and tech companies for up to date lists on which of its citizens have asked for directions to abortion clinics, searched for and visited care providers, and other strong indicators of what they will likely have defined as conspiracy to get an abortion. (This information is already tracked and available for purchase.)

We need strong assurances from leadership in the tech world, and where required, adjustments to EULAs and other documents, that abortion will not be a targetable or tracked item to be mixed in with the 500 other sensitive categories that advertisers and others can buy and peruse. Sadly I doubt we can convince data brokers to do what’s right, since they seldom if ever have done so; in the meantime, minimize your attack surface with some quick changes to settings and preferences.

Cybersecurity 101: Seven simple security guides for protecting your privacy

7. Vote with your HQ (or support from outside)

As we’ve seen, some companies care more about tax benefits than about taking part in a community that reflects the values they theoretically espouse. Don’t compromise your ethics for a sweetheart deal from a corrupt governor.

There are plenty of places in this country where a startup can make a home and not pay the astronomical rents of the top five or six metro areas. It may be cheap or trendy to shift to a state like Texas or Florida, but consider what it means going forward when it comes to recruiting the best in the industry. Sadly, the many and various advantages of these large and diverse states and municipalities are being overbalanced by policies clearly more concerned with political posturing than the welfare of their citizenry.

Of course in this new office-free world, it may be that you don’t really have an HQ at all. In that case the advice is different: Hire people where they are, but support them as noted above so that they have the resources should the need arise.

Tesla should say something

8. Normalize, don’t criminalize, abortion on all platforms

There will be pressure by state authorities to limit or remove discussion, promotion or offers of abortion care on platforms like Facebook, Tiktok, even maps (remember this?). This pressure must not be bowed to. Companies like Apple and Google wield enough power to defy such requests and it would be forward thinking to expand access rather than limit it.

When someone asks Siri or Google Assistant for directions to an abortion clinic, give them. If #shoutyourabortion is trending, let it. If the top app in the health category is for abortion pills, keep it. Sexual and reproductive health is being restricted in the real world, but in the online platforms we use should be kept free from the zealotry and censorship currently ascendant in many states.

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Digital health startups brace for a Post-Roe world

Per a leaked draft obtained by Politico, The Supreme Court is set to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, a precedent that protects a women’s choice to have an abortion. The move, still yet to go through, would be devastating to the women’s reproductive rights movement, and be a stunning jolt to healthcare in the United States.

In response to the looming potential shift, the founders of digital health startups spoke up about how the overturn will impact women. For many startups, especially those explicitly focused on women’s health, the future could directly clash with the mission they’ve raised millions and spent years trying to scale: expand access to healthcare across the board.

Nathalie Walton, the chief executive of Expectful, said that restriction “to women’s access to safe abortion services will lead to adverse health implications for countless women.” Walton took her post at the helm of Expectful after herself going through a pregnancy that almost killed her. The haunting experience made her an example of a reality she had long known: to be a pregnant Black woman is to be at risk, regardless of economic background.

While Expectful largely works with women who are on the journey to motherhood, the app dedicates an entire unpaywalled section of its content to how to navigate pregnancy loss. It is in the process of adding a section on abortions to its library, too, and that should be finalized by end of month. “As state laws evolve in the wake of the Court’s forthcoming decision, we will continue to create content and programs to support all women, regardless of their unique situation,” Walton added.

Expectful is one of a growing number of venture-backed digital health startups aimed at serving women. According to data from Pitchbook, investment in healthcare companies with a female founder or co-founder accounts for 43% of dollars raised by women last year. In 2011, the share was less than 25%. The growing profile of female-founded healthcare startups includes Maven, which made history last year one of the first women’s health companies to be valued at $1 billion.

Founded by Kate Ryder, Maven started as a support service for pregnancy loss and high-risk care management as the founder herself waded through the emotions and confusion of going through a miscarriage. Today, the platform works with employers to give employees a suite of services ranging from preconception to post-pregnancy to family care. A core tenant of the company is “that all people have the fundamental right to make private decisions about their bodies and their wellbeing, and to decide when, if, and how to have a child,” Ryder wrote in a statement on LinkedIn this morning.

Ryder said that Maven has been mobilizing since last September when the Texas legislature passed a law that banned abortion after six weeks, and ahead of the potential overturn of Roe v. Wade. She said that Maven Wallet, an app that helps consumers calculate the cost of reproductive procedures and facilitate reimbursement, will be leveraged to help” American companies cover expenses for women seeking out-of-state care.” The company is also providing options counseling and a forum for people to learn about their choices.

Hey Jane is a digital abortion clinic that connects patients to licensed medical providers and delivers abortion pills to doorsteps. Co-founder Kiki Freedman said that the overturn makes abortion care via mail “now likely to be the most viable form of access for most of the country.’ The startup believes it will be able to operate in the six states it presently operates in: New York, California, Washington, Illinois, Colorado, or New Mexico. Freedman estimates that these states accounts for 52% of abortion volume worldwide.

A hurdle, she expects, will be a lack of education among consumers on medication-induced abortions. The majority of abortions performed in the US are viai medication, except she says that only 1 in 5 people know it’s an option. “It s imperative that we continue to educate people about this safe, effective, and common abortion option,” she wrote in a statement.

Hey Jane is preparing for a surge in patients, and has already seen an increase after the aforementioned Texas ban. Freedman said that it’s important for California and New York to prioritize legislation that would protect providers, in-state and out of state patients and clinics.

“While we wait for the official decision to come down, Hey Jane is more dedicated than ever to putting the power back in people’s hands through telemedicine abortion care,” she said.

Lauren Berson founded digital fertility program Conceive to better support women on one of the loneliest journeys in healthcare. She tells TechCrunch that Conceive stands by its decision to help all women maintain access to good care  “and will do everything in our power to live our values.” The startup is donating to local abortion funds and is marching today at 5 p.m.

“And most importantly continuing to educate our community on how abortion is health care! The key thing is this is just a draft. Not yet final. And maybe the wake up call everyone needed,” she said.

Lux Capital partner Deena Shakir has spent years investing in digital health startups that focus on women’s health and equity, including Alife, Waymark and Maven.

“Like many women and allies at the intersection of healthcare, tech, and policy, my phone has been buzzing with notifications from texts, WhatsApp, Slacks, Discords, emails, calls,” she told TechCrunch. Her top priorities are mobilizing public discourse, donations, and offering resources to employees and employers.

“Reproductive rights are human rights, and women’s health is population health. They are inextricable,” she tells TechCrunch. “While a tough road ahead, I’m heartened by the women founders, investors, and legislators committed to addressing this. More soon.”

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In internal memo, Apple says it is monitoring legal challenges to Texas abortion law

In a message posted on an internal employee message board today, Apple said that it was monitoring the legal challenges to what it refers to as the “uniquely restrictive abortion law” that was recently passed in Texas. Apple confirmed the authenticity of the message to TechCrunch.

“We are actively monitoring the legal proceedings challenging the uniquely restrictive abortion law in Texas,” the unsigned memo reads. “In the meantime, we want to remind you that our benefits at Apple are comprehensive, and that they allow our employees to travel out-of-state for medical care if it is unavailable in their home state.”

The new law essentially bans the vast majority of abortions from occurring in the state and is currently being legally challenged in a variety of ways. A series of companies in and outside of tech have taken public stances against the law in recent days. Salesforce has offered to relocate any employees in Texas that are concerned about the ability to access reproductive care in the state post-enactment of the law. Offers to cover travel expenses for employees that needed care out of the state were set up by Match Group and Bumble, both Texas-based companies.

The message does not detail any further actions that Apple is taking to actively oppose the bill but says that Apple supports “our employees’ rights to make their own decisions regarding their reproductive health.”

Apple is a large employer in Texas where it has a campus of thousands in Austin, as well as a manufacturing plant and many Apple stores across the state.

The full text of the message is below:

A message about women’s reproductive health care

At Apple, we support our employees’ rights to make their own decisions regarding their reproductive health.

We are actively monitoring the legal proceedings challenging the uniquely restrictive abortion law in Texas. In the meantime, we want to remind you that our benefits at Apple are comprehensive, and that they allow our employees to travel out-of-state for medical care if it is unavailable in their home state. If you need help in navigating your care or that of your dependents, your health plan carrier can confidentially assist you.

Your health and well-being remain our highest priority, and we will continue to do all that we can to ensure that you and your families have access to the care that Apple provides.

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Texas Right to Life website exposed job applicants’ resumes

Anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life exposed the personal information of hundreds of job applicants after a website bug allowed anyone to access their resumes, which were stored in an unprotected folder on its website.

A security researcher told TechCrunch that the group’s main website, built largely in WordPress, was not properly protecting the file storage on its website, which it used to store resumes of more than 300 job applicants, as well as other uploaded files. The resumes contained names, phone numbers, addresses, and details of that person’s employment history.

The website bug was fixed over the weekend, a short time after details of the leak were revealed on Twitter. The group’s website no longer lists any of the exposed files.

“We are taking action to protect the concerned individuals,” said Kimberlyn Schwartz, a spokesperson for Texas Right to Life, referring to those who “sought and circulated the information.”

When asked, Schwartz would not say if the organization planned on informing those whose personal information was exposed by its security lapse.

Texas Right to Life sparked anger when last week it publicized a “whistleblower” website that encouraged Texas residents to report when someone might be seeking an abortion in violation of the state’s restrictive new abortion law. The law allows anyone to sue someone seeking an abortion, or anyone “aiding and abetting” an abortion after six weeks. That provision has been widely interpreted as targeting doctors who perform these procedures, but also potentially anyone who gets involved, such as contributing money or driving a friend to a clinic.

It didn’t take long for the “whistleblower” website to be flooded with fake tips, memes, and Shrek porn in protest. The site briefly fell offline Thursday, which coincided with an activist releasing an iOS shortcut to help anyone pre-fill the website’s form with fake information.

But by the weekend, GoDaddy, the company hosting the website, told Texas Right to Life that the site violated its terms of service and gave the group 24 hours to find another host. It did — briefly — by way of Epik, a web host that helped other controversial sites like far-right social networks Gab get back online. But that didn’t last long either.

As of Monday, the “whistleblower” website pointed to Texas Right to Life’s main website.

The far right’s favorite registrar is building ‘censorship-resistant’ servers

 

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Virtual clinic Hey Jane raises $2.2M to solve for state anti-abortion legislation

As more states pass some type of abortion ban, Hey Jane, a virtual clinic startup offering telemedicine abortion care, announced Thursday that it raised $2.2 million in an oversubscribed round from a group of investors, including Koa Lab, Gaingels and Foursight Capital Partners.

The idea for the remote-first company stemmed from a conversation in 2019 that founder and CEO Kiki Freedman had with some friends regarding Missouri being one of six states that has one abortion clinic left. Freedman, who goes by a nickname to avoid violence against abortion providers, explained that, in fact, the clinic was slated for closure that summer, which would have meant Missouri was the first state to not have any abortion care. The clinic was ultimately able to stay open.

“At the time, many of the emerging telemedicine clinics I saw were focused on men’s wellness and didn’t talk about women’s health,” Freedman told TechCrunch. “I thought this virtual model could be used for safe and discreet abortion care.”

One of Hey Jane’s investors, who wished to remain publicly anonymous, “was excited to invest in Freedman and Hey Jane” because he agreed — women’s health was an underserved category. Unlike men’s healthcare, abortion care is segregated from women’s health care. This stemmed from Reagan’s mandates separating abortion care from hospitals.

One in four women will have an abortion by age 45, according to Planned Parenthood. However, just in 2021, over 90 abortion restrictions were enacted in the United States, and there are 1,320 restrictions in total, according to The Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research and policy organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights. Currently, Arkansas and Oklahoma have near-total abortion bans except when a patient’s life is endangered. Meanwhile, Idaho, South Carolina and Texas ban abortion at either six weeks or with very limited exceptions.

What top VCs look for in women’s fertility startups

In July 2020, a federal judge granted approval for women to obtain abortion medication without having to see a doctor, which opened the door for companies, like Hey Jane and others, to begin offering “no touch” services for people who were less than 10 weeks pregnant.

The $249 treatment includes screening by a medical doctor, FDA-approved medication prescribed and shipped overnight to the person’s house, follow-up virtual visits and the ability to chat with a doctor during the entire process. The Hey Jane team also checks in frequently with the patient via text message.

The company said removing financial barriers is “a huge priority for us.” Though the company does not accept insurance yet, it is offering financial assistance through a nonprofit abortion fund partner, Reprocare. This organization subsidizes up to $110 of the $249 treatment so that patients can pay as little as $139 for treatment.

The new funding will enable Hey Jane to expand into new states and add to its team of seven to build out the product and automated process and for legal research so the company can stay abreast of telemedicine laws and telemedicine abortion laws for each state.

There are several regulatory requirements Hey Jane must follow in each state, including ensuring that clinicians only provide care to patients in states in which they’re licensed. For this reason, the company has clinicians licensed in each state in which it operates who are ready to prescribe medication when appropriate. It also has on-demand experts for emotional relief.

Hey Jane just launched across California this week and is also in New York and Washington. This means that Hey Jane’s service areas now cover up to 34% of all abortions performed annually in the United States, Freedman said. Those states were chosen first because California and New York have the highest number of abortions performed annually, she added.

“Although people in those states may have easier access to clinics, they could still strongly benefit from treatment with Hey Jane since it’s as safe and effective and half the price of in-clinic care,” Freedman said. “It doesn’t require costs, or time for travel or child care, ensures privacy and discretion and provides additional layers of emotional support.”

It’s a new era for fertility tech

Freedman expects to be in 10 states by the end of the year and plans to be able to offer treatment in all 50 states in coming years. However, there are regulatory barriers limiting access to telemedicine abortion in 19 states. Hey Jane is partnering with the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health research group out of the University of California at San Francisco to gather information to this end.

“We are working with leading researchers to expand the ample existing evidence that this modality of care is safe, effective and preferred by patients,” she added. “We hope this research can further advance discussions in more restrictive states, ultimately leading to much needed, patient-centric updates to outdated regulations. Existing data on the safety and effectiveness of telemedicine abortion paints a very clear picture that this is the future of abortion care.”

The company is currently seeing 250% quarterly growth in the number of patients using the service. As it has grown, it is focusing more on additional tools for coordinated care and new products.

Abortions are often kept secret due to worries of judgment and discrimination, and Hey Jane will provide a much-needed outlet for patients to discreetly share their experiences and emotion, Freedman said.

“We are focusing on convenience and privacy,” she added. “Two-thirds of women don’t want to talk about their experience, so we want to provide a space for them.”

Matters of women’s health are highly personal. If you or someone you know is struggling with a private women’s health concern, please contact your primary care physician or secular community health clinic for more information.

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The Pill Club is donating 5,000 units of emergency contraception

Eleven million women in the U.S. live more than an hour from an abortion clinic, a number expected to increase as facilities close up shop following new restrictions on women’s healthcare in several states.

Planned Parenthood and other leading nonprofits continue to put up a good fight while private “mission-driven” companies in the burgeoning women’s health tech sector are all talk and little action. But a new effort from The Pill Club, an Alphabet-backed birth control and prescription delivery startup, may lead to change in the nascent sector.

The Pill Club has partnered with Power To Decide, a nonprofit campaign to prevent unplanned pregnancies, to dole out free emergency contraception to women in need. Together they’ll distribute 5,000 units of a generic form of Plan B, a pill taken after sex to stop a pregnancy before it starts. For the next three months The Pill Club will also match all donations up to $10,000 made to Power To Decide’s Contraceptive Access Fund, which helps low-income women access contraception. Anyone can sign up now to receive free units.

The Pill Club’s decision to share resources with a nonprofit comes as several states this year have imposed new laws restricting or outlawing abortion procedures. Alabama, for example, earlier this year passed a Senate bill banning abortion in the state. Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky and others have also OK’d new restrictions on abortion.

The Pill Club

This is The Pill Club’s first effort to donate emergency contraception to populations in need, as well as its first partnership with a not-for-profit entity. Co-founder and chief executive officer Nick Chang says the startup thought long and hard about how it could be most helpful to women in this political climate.

“We thought, what can we do to support women in these states in ways that other companies may not be able to?,” Chang tells TechCrunch. “This is the moment where private companies can really go out and benefit women in ways that may not be supported in other avenues. Since we have the means and ability to do it in ways that are more convenient and private, it’s our opportunity to drive access and support.”

Founded in 2014 and backed with more than $60 million in venture capital funding, one might argue The Pill Club should have forged partnerships like this from the get-go. Curious what efforts other well-funded birth control startups were making to support women in 2019, especially women in contraceptive deserts who are likely unfamiliar with the new line of consumer birth control brands, I reached out to The Pill Club’s competitors Nurx, a fellow birth control delivery company, and Hers, a line of women’s healthcare products owned by the billion-dollar startup Hims.

Both companies emphasized the fact that many of their customers live in Southern states, or the region most impacted by new limitations to abortion care, but didn’t mention any new efforts to increase access, like partnerships with nonprofits or donations. Hers provided this quote from the company’s co-founder Hilary Coles, which didn’t answer my question but did make clear the company is thinking about serving contraceptive deserts:

“At Hers, our mission is to provide women with more convenient and affordable access to the healthcare system,” Hers co-founders Hilary Coles said in a statement. “Approximately 3.5 million patients go without care because they cannot access transportation to their providers and 19.5 million women have reported not having access to a clinic that provides birth control specifically. That’s simply unacceptable. Closing the gaps caused by geographic barriers between patients and their doctors was one of the primary challenges we set out to address when founding Hers. We’re proud to be a resource for women nationwide, including those who live in contraceptive deserts who may not otherwise have access to the care they need. It’s crucial to Hers to be part of the solution in alleviating the pain points women experience within the healthcare system.” 

It’s not the responsibility of these companies to improve the political landscape of the U.S., but with $340 million in private capital shared between them, the trio does have a unique opportunity to innovate, share, collaborate and influence. After all, that’s what’s so great about healthtech; it brings new, innovative solutions to an industry characterized by antiquated systems and slow movers. For once, Silicon Valley’s “move fast and break things” mantra may be appropriately applied to a facet of healthcare. Women need sustained access to contraception and abortion care. Fast.

“This is the time when private companies can step in,” Chang concluded. “We can come in and help out and it’s our responsibility to do that.”

The Pill Club raises $51M as VCs find new opportunities in women’s health