Women are being pressured to delete their period trackers as concerns that authorities could access personal information grow following the Supreme Court's overruling of Roe v Wade.
Shortly after the court voted to strike down the landmark decision that legalised abortion nationwide, young adult author Jessica Khory wrote to Twitter: “Delete your period tracking apps today.”
The statement, which was retweeted more than 100,00 times, sparked panic amongst women.
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One person commented on the post to provide a bit of context, saying: “In light of the Roe vs. Wade being overturned, data from period tracking apps can be used to support abortion accusations by highlighting periods of irregularity.
“I'm not getting into politics and quite frankly I'm not well informed, but this is a frightening precedent to set.”
Another person said: “It's 2022, tons of American women had to go back to tracking their periods using a paper calendar. This is surreal.”
While a third person wrote: “Unbelievable that this is where we are as a nation today. But this is where we are as a nation today.
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“This is not a joke.”
As fear bubbles all over the internet, European period tracking app Clue, which has more than 12 million customers, declared that it would not disclose its user's private information under European law.
“As we are based in Berlin, as a European country, Clue is obliged under European law (the General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR) to apply special protections to our users’ reproductive health data. We will not disclose it. We will stand up for our users,” they said.
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Another period tracking app, Stardust, which combines menstruation with the movements of our moon and the planets (yes, really), also assured it in a TikTok video: “In light of the recent news about Roe v. Wade, we want to make our commitment clear to you.
"We are a women-owned app founded on a belief in freedom of choice and freedom of privacy.
“We do not sell data. We have never sold data. We will never sell data.”
Stardust also claimed it was the first-period tracking app to offer end-to-end encryption, which secures information from being viewed by another party.
The Guttmacher Institute claims 26 states are already looking to ban abortion following the Supreme Court ruling.
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Thirteen states, including Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, have already passed so-called ‘trigger laws’ to ban abortion that automatically went into effect after the overruling.
Charisa Bossinakis