Period tracking apps haven't been used for prosecution yet, because abortion has been legal. There are now trigger laws in effect in some US states where having an abortion is punished by life imprisonment.

The prosecutors in those states are no-doubt smacking their lips at the idea of using such data to find supporting evidence that a woman had a secret abortion.

I see it being even more grim. This ruling opens the door for any miscarriage past a state-specific threshold to be treated as a potential crime, meaning that they'll get to dig through all of the above. Then, any other crimes that may be discovered in the process will be prosecuted.

Make no mistake, this is a power grab by egotistical religious nuts. They're not going to stop here.

>This ruling opens the door for any miscarriage past a state- specific threshold to be treated as a potential crime

The saddest part is that many states didn't wait for this decision to prosecute those who miscarry:

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2011/07/misc-j06.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59214544

https://www.popsugar.com/news/can-you-be-charged-with-crime-...

https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/11/8/20954980/stillbirth...

https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a44552/when-a-m...

Where does one register as pregnant and check in with their pregnancy? What state has specifically outlawed miscarriages?

It’s important to not spread fake FUD during these times.

The devil is in the details. It's easy to find historical accounts of women who very nearly died, or actually died, because the doctors entrusted with their care either took too long to "approve" a medically necessary abortion, or flat out refused. There have been politicians bemoaning that ectopic fetuses have no "rights" and suggesting that they should be implanted into the uterus, which is currently impossible. The law on this topic, and people's behavior regarding it, is not driven by science, as it should be. It's driven by emotional religious blowback.

I'm not a fan of elective abortions, but anything that could potentially put a roadblock in the way of a medically necessary abortion needs to be scrutinized very carefully.

Women will die because of this decision at the end of the day. When that happens, the SCOTUS majority will have blood on their hands.

Four justices are on record as having said they respected Roe v Wade as "settled law", and here they have shown that to be a lie. Why do we just allow these people to lie and get away with it? Any elected or appointed official who lies as part of their duties should be removed from office and blackballed from ever holding such office for the rest of their life.

As well, Justice Thomas indicated that other privacy-based precedent should also be revisited. The Court seems to be trying to undo the whole concept of stare decisis.

It's not FUD, man. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59214544

Native American Brittney Poolaw was sentenced to 4 years in prison by Oklahoma in Nov 2021 for a miscarriage in a hospital.

The court said her meth use constituted manslaughter, not drug addiction.

If the mother smokes cigarettes, drinks alcohol, etc and a lawyer can show a reasonable expectation that this can harm a fetus and the mother can be reasonably expected to understand this risk and know doing so could harm her fetus, she could now be prosecuted for manslaughter in those states.

Prosecutors have already prosecuted women for having abortions by crawling through searches and text messages. Someone who missed a period mysteriously doesn’t indicate an abortion. Someone who googles abortion clinics, then their location data is at the clinic, then they texted close family or friends for support about their decision to have an abortion, etc.

> Prosecutors have already prosecuted women for having abortions by crawling through searches and text messages.

This sounds illegal, have a link?

Latice Fisher was arrested in 2018 under suspicions her miscarriage was an abortion, using her previous googling for abortion medication as evidence. She was later released, but my understanding is that her arrest in the first place was partially using search history as evidence. It’s totally legal if you have a warrant, and warrants are easy to acquire.

punished by life imprisonment, wow I thought we past those times here

This step back and this presumed overvalueing of life what is a mere cell cluster vs being totally fine what is done to fully feeling empathic living beings every day is what boggles and saddens me a lot in our modern society (no not forbidding you to eat meat, just let them life a natural, or at least under some viewpoint a certain kind if happy and non-tortured life).

To unboggle your mind, look at it from the perspective of control over women rather than protection for the fetus. Claiming to value the life of the fetus costs you nothing and allows you to claim a moral high ground to control women. It’s as cynical a ploy as you can get.

> There are now trigger laws in effect in some US states where having an abortion is punished by life imprisonment.

Which states?

Texas:

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/06/24/texas-abortion-law-s...

https://www.findlaw.com/state/texas-law/texas-abortion-laws....

Although re-reading the text, it's not clear whether that applies to the abortion provider or recipient.

That’s the provider, not the patient.

Somehow the apps stay free. But something must be paying the bills.

The most straightforward way to do so is to monetize the data.

As such, it might find its way to law enforcement.