About Karen Blum
Karen Blum is AHCJ’s core topic leader on health IT. An independent journalist in the Baltimore area, she has written health IT stories for publications such as Pharmacy Practice News, Clinical Oncology News, Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News, General Surgery News and Infectious Disease Special Edition.

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto via pexels.
Within days of the Supreme Court ruling overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade case, information about abortion spread rampantly online.
One area of ambiguity has been the use of femtech, or technology such as period-tracking mobile apps to support women’s health. People have raised concerns about what will happen regarding computer or phone search histories for reproductive care.
“There’s a lot of information floating out there,” said Bethany Corbin, senior counsel with Nixon Gwilt Law, in an interview with AHCJ. “The main concern is that period-tracking apps or other femtech apps will serve as a way for law enforcement to get access to sensitive reproductive health data and criminalize a woman for having an abortion or even a suspected abortion. It is a legitimate concern.”
Law enforcement can access data from apps in multiple ways, Corbin said. But if women start to delete apps, there may be a longer-term negative impact on women’s health, she said, adding that some apps partner with research institutions to use data to gain valuable insights into women’s health. Removing these apps could also result in decreased access to care for some people, particularly those living in rural areas at or below the poverty line who otherwise may not have access to reproductive health care.
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Karen Blum is AHCJ’s core topic leader on health IT. An independent journalist in the Baltimore area, she has written health IT stories for publications such as Pharmacy Practice News, Clinical Oncology News, Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News, General Surgery News and Infectious Disease Special Edition.