Rights advocates are pushing for privacy laws to protect pregnant women from being surveilled and criminalized for receiving abortion care.
Jon McCray Jones, a policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union, told theGrio that women who live in states that outlaw abortions can be surveilled and criminalized for getting an abortion in states that have legalized the procedure.
Jones told theGrio that surveillance can begin the moment, “a family member, friend, coworker or social worker of a pregnant woman leaves a tip for law enforcement.”
Next, law enforcement can obtain a subpoena or a warrant to acquire devices belonging to the pregnant woman and anyone else who helped her terminate the pregnancy. Officers can then sift through text messages and social media messages to find evidence to criminalize those involved.
Jones told theGrio that pregnant women are also at risk of surveillance while receiving medical treatment.
“You come to a hospital and say ‘I had a miscarriage,’ however a health care worker can then tip off law enforcement and state that the patient engaged in a self-managed abortion,” he said.
Officers would then obtain a subpoena or a warrant to access the patient’s phone and look through the search history to see if the patient looked up ways to get an abortion.
Jones said, “They can prosecute you that way and build a case.”
U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., told theGrio that she has seen an influx of pregnant women coming to California from “states where it’s not legal to get abortions. As a result, these women have become victims of tracking.”
“The person who gave them money to rent the car, drove with them or let them stay with them while getting an abortion are also being tracked, monitored and then criminalized,” she continued.
Jones highlighted a case out of Nebraska, where a mother and daughter were sentenced to prison for working together to abort a…
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