Overview
Thank you for attending the first session of ACLU People Power’s Abortion Activist Series on digital privacy and abortion access! If you weren’t able to join us on July 12, here’s what you missed:
ACLU’s Abortion Rights Advocacy
On June 24, the Supreme Court issued a dangerous ruling overturning Roe v. Wade in an unprecedented attack on reproductive freedom. But this fight isn’t just taking place at the Supreme Court. The ACLU is prepared for this moment, and will continue fighting in courts and legislatures, in the streets, and at the ballot box — and we’re excited to have you with us.
First and foremost, we’re focused on organizing and movement-building on issues from reproductive freedom to racial justice to data privacy to policing and criminalization. Immediate ACLU strategies include honing in on:
- Special Legislative Sessions
- Federal Bills
- State Ballot Initiatives
- GOTV (Get Out The Vote!)
- Policing & Surveillance
How to Protect Our Digital Privacy
When it comes to reproductive rights, your digital trail matters more than you think. As states push abortion out of reach and criminalize care, people who need an abortion have rightfully raised the alarm about the unprecedented access the government – and private entities – have to our digital lives.
Remember, communication is a powerful tool for resistance. While important to understand its risks, we don’t want to discourage you from communicating with others to advance reproductive freedom.
Records of our lives are aggregated by corporations and governments alike – both online and in real life. Here are some “risky digital trails,” just to name a few:
- Browsing history
- Location history
- Call metadata
- Data stored on phones
- Financial Records
- Medical & Insurance Records
- License plate readers
- Facial recognition cameras
- Mail scanning
Individual Defense Tips and Guides: There are important steps you can take to help protect yourself from being targeted by digital surveillance when seeking abortion care, especially if your state has banned – or is poised to ban – access.
- Use encrypted messaging platforms
- Use disappearing message functions
- Minimize your app count & clean up permissions
- Encrypt your devices
- Use search engines and navigation tools that don’t log your history
Learn more:
- Impending Threat of Abortion Criminalization Brings New Urgency to the Fight for Digital Privacy
- A few easy steps to protect your digital privacy
- Digital Security and Privacy Tips for Those Involved Abortion Access (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
- Keep Your Abortion Private & Secure (Digital Defense Fund)
- Internet Safety (Repro Legal Helpline)
- In A Post-Roe America, Googling “Abortion” Could Put You at Risk. Here’s How to Protect Yourself (Buzzfeed)
Community Defense Tips and Guides: We can also take collective steps to ensure all members of our communities are protected from digital surveillance and its consequences.
- Establish communities outside of untrustworthy platforms
- Shift norms and expectations around hyperconnectivity
- Hold platforms to account
- Advocate for legislation that prevents law enforcement access to private data
How You Can Take Action
While it’s easy to feel disheartened by the many things we must do to simply protect ourselves and our communities, there are still important actions we can take.
There are two pieces of urgent legislation that Congress is voting on this Friday, July 15. Call your representative now and urge them to vote YES on:
- The Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA)
- The Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act Act
Text “PROTECT” to 82623 to call your member of Congress now!
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