Representative Sara Jacobs is likely the first person to publicly speak about her time on the floor of the US House of Representatives. She discussed the use of period-tracking apps, and how there are plans for companies to sell that information and other reproductive details.
The My Body, My Data Act, which protects the information women create and provide on those apps from becoming data offered to the highest bidder, will prevent that.
Not only are there concerns about data being sold to companies that want to use it to sell products, but data can also be weaponized against women. One of the ways this can be done is by noting when a woman had her last period, therefore calculating if she might be pregnant.
With the fall of Roe v. Wade, many women are working harder to protect their reproductive health and safety. Selling their data to others can prevent them from protecting themselves the way they want, and can put them at risk for forced childbirth due to a lack of abortion opportunities.
Rep. Jacobs and others like her are starting to talk more openly about their reproductive and fertility journeys, to reduce the stigma surrounding this type of information. Additionally, the goal is to inform the issue that periods and other reproductive information are protected by medical knowledge.
Period tracking apps are used for a variety of reasons, and one of those reasons is that the government shouldn’t be able to track women with the intent of stopping abortions, IVF, or other personal that choice.
Passing the law will reduce the risk to women, and prevent others from gaining access to this data. Women’s reproductive health is personal to them, and should only be shared with permission. Talking to their partners or their doctors is very different from allowing the government access to that same data.
The My Body, My Data Act will not only protect women from this type of intrusion, but give them peace of mind for the apps they use to track cycles and related information in the future.
At The Surrogacy Law Center in Carlsbad, California, we work to help protect our clients’ rights related to egg, sperm, and embryo donation, and surrogacy arrangements, while maintaining state laws and other constituents ahead. To learn more and speak with an assisted reproduction attorney, contact us today!
