Jezebel: Google Isn’t Deleting Users’ Abortion-Related Data, Despite Post-Roe Promise. “Accountable Tech’s research, shared with the Guardian, suggests that if Google doesn’t precisely detect that a user went inside an abortion clinic, and was just in the area of one, their location data isn’t deleted.”
Engadget: Period tracker app Flo launches ‘Anonymous Mode’ for iOS devices. “Flo’s anonymous mode has arrived. The period tracker promised to launch the new mode shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, in an effort to assuage privacy-related fears.”
ProPublica: How Misinformation About COVID Vaccines and Pregnancy Took Root Early On and Why It Won’t Go Away. “Before coronavirus vaccines were even released, a disinformation campaign used a moment of national and personal vulnerability to prey on those who were pregnant or who planned to become pregnant.”
ProPublica: Federal Patient Privacy Law Does Not Cover Most Period-Tracking Apps. “Following the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, advocates for privacy and reproductive health have expressed fears that data from period-tracking apps could be used to find people who’ve had abortions. They have a point. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the federal patient privacy law known as HIPAA, does not apply to most apps that track menstrual cycles, just as it doesn’t apply to many health care apps and at-home test kits.”
Mashable: Stardust is the first period tracker app to offer end to end encryption. “…period tracking app Stardust, which combines traditional menstruation tracking with the movements of our moon and the planets, has come out ahead of many others by announcing itself as the first recognized app to offer end-to-end encryption for all users.”
New York Times: Why Did Facebook Reject These Ads?. “A new report found that the social network has rejected ads from 60 companies focused on women’s sexual health, citing policies on ‘adult products and services.’”
SupChina: Xi’an woman in quarantine begs for period products in viral video, gets bashed by men for being ‘dramatic’. “Are period products necessities or luxuries? Should women be blamed if they are trapped in a quarantine facility without sanitary pads because they should be keeping track of their menstruation cycles? A COVID-19 lockdown and viral video have launched a debate on Chinese social media.” To anyone who thinks that menstrual cycles are some kind of events of inexorable timing and can be planned for, I offer this study from October 2021 on how pandemic stress disrupted menstrual cycles: https://www.verywellmind.com/pandemic-stress-caused-irregular-menstrual-cycles-study-finds-5204326 .
NBC New York: Study Offers Reassurance on COVID Shots, Women’s Periods . “One of the first studies to track whether COVID-19 vaccination might affect women’s periods found a small and temporary change. Research published Wednesday tracked nearly 4,000 U.S. women through six menstrual cycles and on average, the next period after a shot started about a day later than usual. But there was no change in the number of days of menstrual bleeding after COVID-19 vaccination.”
Teen Vogue: 18-Year-Old Maddy Rasmussen Launches Online Database of Abortion Clinic Information. “Maddy Rasmussen, 18, had an important revelation while interning at Legal Voice, an organization that aims to advocate for marginalized groups of women. The teen noted that the internet was lacking a comprehensive database or list of abortion clinics throughout the United States, so she decided to make one. Thus, the Safe Place Project was born: a website that outlines every abortion clinic in the country, in the form of a list and an interactive map.”
A new Web site aims to be a Wikipedia-like resource for women’s health around the world. “The concept of Gynopedia is simple: It’s an online, open-source, nonprofit health care database in the style of Wikipedia that offers women free information on a range of issues as they relate to different locations across the globe. You can search by city—say, Los Angeles, or Mumbai—and get specific pages with details on where to go for gynecological exams, emergency contraception, STI tests, and where to find abortion clinics.”
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