The GOP's new tech creep threatens abortion access and trans kids
A dark web of Republican strategy puts everyone at risk
Welcome to a Monday evening edition of Progress Report.
We’ve got a great story tonight from regular new contributor Ginny Keenan, whose piece focuses on the GOP’s ongoing efforts to control people through both bureaucracy and technology.
That Republicans favor small government and promote so-called “freedom” has always been an absurd misnomer, allowed to flourish by a political class and media elite unaffected by the party’s heavy-handed policies. Today, having rigged and then weaponized the arcane levers of power, the GOP is using power to surveil and punish people for merely existing as never before.
It’s a scary subject, but one that is increasingly pertinent, so let’s jump right to it!
by Ginny Keenan
After an onslaught of criticism from parents and activists, the Florida high schools will remove all questions about menstrual cycles from medical forms required to participate in high school sports in the state.
The Florida High School Athletic Association had an emergency meeting last Thursday, during which it ultimately backtracked on its proposal to ask parents to submit data on their daughters' first menstrual cycles if they wanted to play girls sports.
Parents and medical professionals were quick to speak out against the original decision, asserting that reproductive health information is private and does not need to be collected by schools. Floridians feared that their health information could be used against them -- especially in a time when abortion access and transgender rights are under attack.
“I don’t see why (schools) need that access to that type of information,” said Dr. Michael Haller, a physician based in Gainesville, FL, to the Palm Beach Post. “It sure as hell will give me pause to fill it out with my kid.”
The Florida’s High School Athletics Association used to give female high school athletes the opportunity to provide information about their menstrual cycle on health forms required to participate in sports, but it was not mandatory.
Activists protested at the emergency meeting, and almost 900 people sent letters to board members to oppose the move. Given the uncertain future of Florida’s reproductive laws, they saw the move to be a way to monitor millions of young women's reproductive systems.
LGBT+ activists were additionally concerned because of the onslaught of homophobic legislation coming from Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis. Since he took office he has signed a bill banning transgender girls and women from playing on public sports teams, and passed the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill which makes it illegal to discuss sexual orientation or gender identity in a classroom.
Many saw the request for menstrual data as a way to further discriminate against the transgender community as well as creep on young women as the state clamped down on abortion access.
THE BIG PICTURE
Although this effort to gather intrusive data on women’s reproductive systems was effectively curtailed, activists are struggling with data privacy concerns across the US in the post-roe political climate.
In the 21st century it is much more difficult to hide data about a decision to end a pregnancy. Texts, google searches, and private messages all leave digital trails that can be used to incriminate pregnant people in a court of law.
Last August, one Nebraska teen and her mother faced charges due to Facebook messages obtained by authorities in which they discussed a self-managed abortion.
In Indiana, Purvi Patel was convicted after authorities obtained text messages to a friend about taking abortion medication.
Latice Fisher, a Mississippi woman, was charged with second-degree murder after a stillbirth at home in 2017 because the police accessed her search history where she was researching abortion pills.
Women’s digital footprints have been used against them in court as they navigate unwanted pregnancies across the country.
Some nonprofits have even used social media to lure young people into sharing reproductive data. The so-called ‘crisis pregnancy centers’ coerce pregnant teens into sharing sensitive reproductive data through deceptive ads. Facebook has taken in $202,258 in advertising revenue for reversal ads, which have been seen 23 million times, since 2020.
Currently, patients’ medical information is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA. However, the protections do not apply to health data shared with third-party apps and websites. Legislators all over the US are hoping to tighten HIPAA protections for reproductive health data. Sara Jacobs, a Californian lawmaker, recently introduced such legislation to the state’s legislature.
Period tracker apps Clue and Stardust have both made public commitments to data protection since the Dobbs decision. Clue will not comply with requests for users’ health information from U.S. law enforcement, according to a US spokesperson.
None of this is paranoia over unlikely scenarios; states were using tech to track women’s periods even before the Dobbs decision. In 2019, Missouri’s state health director admitted to keeping tabs on personal information kept by Planned Parenthood in order to track women that had failed abortions and whether they tried to terminate a second time.
With Roe now overturned, it’s not just in-office abortions that are in danger. A hate group called the Alliance Defending Freedom is now asking a far-right judge to overturn the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, one of two pills used for medicated abortion. It’s an unhinged request on its own, and liable to set a precedent that could upend the entirety of modern medicine.
“A preliminary injunction would interfere with Congress’s decision to entrust FDA with responsibility to ensure the safety and efficacy of drugs,” the FDA wrote in a response to the lawsuit last month. “In discharging this role, FDA applies its technical expertise to make complex scientific determinations about drugs’ safety and efficacy, and these determinations are entitled to substantial deference.”
IN THE STATES
OKLAHOMA
Last month, a bill Oklahoma Legislature introduced a bill that would punish people for having abortions in the state. Oklahoma’s governor, Kevin Stitt, opposed the bill saying the bill is “preposterous.” The state currently criminalizes doctors who perform abortions, but not patients.
TENNESSEE
In Tenessee, legislators introduced a bill that adds a clause to the existing abortion ban that would sentence abortion-seekers to up to three years in prison should they “lie” about being raped to access abortion care. People could be sentenced if just one cop believes that they are lying.
FLORIDA
The Florida Supreme Court will take up a legal challenge to the state’s 15-week abortion ban. The lawsuit was filed by Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, and other abortion providers.
Although the Florida Supreme Court has previously upheld the right to abortion, the court is now dominated by Gov. Ron DeSantis’s conservative appointees.
VIRGINIA
A bill just passed in the Virginia Senate that would amend the state’s constitution to enshrine abortion rights. The bill will now face the Virginia House of Delegates. Should it pass the House, the bill would protect people from being penalized or prosecuted for seeking abortions at any stage. Unfortunately, with Republicans in charge of the House and private equity culture warrior Glenn Youngkin still the governor, this is just a messaging bill ahead of the off-year elections.
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The republican party is doing its best to make our country NOT a democracy but a autocracy. They are starting with reproduction controlled by the government, the hell with responsibility, and education. Unless there is a total revolt and NOT by them, we will lose our country. they are wicked.