What the Roe v. Wade ruling means for tech companies and reproductive privacy

Yahoo Finance's Allie Garfinkle joins the Live show to break down what the overturning of Roe v. Wade means for tech companies and reproductive health data.

Video transcript

- Well, turning back to the massive Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v Wade, the tech industry may be put in an uncomfortable situation regarding the health data of their employees. Let's bring in Yahoo Finance's Allie Garfinkle. And you know, Allie, this is all about the data collection of women's reproductive health and kind of the situations that they're in. I mean, this is a massive story that tech companies are going to have to grapple with. And I know it's early, but what are you hearing in terms of how they might deal with this in this post-Roe world?

ALLIE GARFINKLE: So the first things first, they have a lot of data about their female consumers-- search histories, clicks, locations. They're all revealing to tech companies what you're thinking about, where you are, and whether you're considering or have already terminated a pregnancy. So the fear for many is that, with state laws kicking in banning abortion, law enforcement, prosecutors, they'll be able to use your data from your phone and computer to hold women criminally liable. To put it really simply, Brian, consumers are afraid that, if police are issuing a warrant or an attorney is issuing a subpoena, tech companies have the power to make or break them.

- And you're talking about the data that's collected overall from companies like Google, but there's also these apps that a lot of women use to track whether, in fact, they are-- you know, to track their cycle, essentially, right? To see whether--

ALLIE GARFINKLE: Yeah, period tracking apps.

- Period tracking apps. And how much of that data gets passed on now? There's a lot of concern around that because women share a lot of data on those apps.

ALLIE GARFINKLE: They do, Akiko. And you know, there have actually even been cases where that data has been used legally. You know, the most notable of these cases was in Mississippi a few years ago. A woman was charged with the second-degree murder of her stillborn after investigators found that her cell phone data showed that she'd been searching for abortion pills. So the case was ultimately dismissed, but it's notable for a couple of reasons.

To me, one of the big ones is that that case comes out of Mississippi, where things are now changed forever, of course. But we also know that companies, including these apps, have used women's data in digital advertising. For example, in 2015, the attorney general of Massachusetts had to get involved when women sitting in abortion clinics were receiving targeted ads. So all in all, it's scattered as to exactly what this means, but there are a couple of things we know. One, companies are not only using that pregnancy-related data, but they could theoretically turn it over to the authorities.

- So have we heard any kind of-- again, it's very early, right? The decision was just on Friday.

ALLIE GARFINKLE: Yeah, it is.

- But have companies kind of articulated when they will-- I mean, because the problem is it's going to be tough for a company to say we're going to defy a state's demands to turn over some of this information, but at the same time, we've already seen a lot of companies come out and say we don't agree with this SCOTUS ruling. And you know, that's going to be a tough thing to square.

ALLIE GARFINKLE: Yeah, it's a complicated situation, Brian. And some period tracking apps have actually taken a stand, like the ones you were talking about, Akiko. That group includes Clue and Flo. And they have a pretty big base of users. We're talking about 50 million people. But there are still reasons to be concerned. Flo's previously had issues with data privacy.

And on top of that, big tech-- Apple, Meta, Facebook-- they've all been really quiet so far. We do know the tech giants have previously handed in data during legal proceedings, but I haven't heard back from them yet as to how they'll be approaching women's health data, and it doesn't seem like anyone else has, either. So we'll see, right? On one hand, you have Amazon, Apple, who've been really vocal about travel reimbursement to employees.

- Well, I was going to say that. I mean, that runs counter to-- if they do go ahead and hand over the data, that runs counter to the exact thing they're saying they're going to protect their employees from. And that puts them in a really tricky position.

ALLIE GARFINKLE: Yeah. But they've-- but they haven't said anything specifically about this. On the other hand, you also do have companies like Meta that have reportedly actually clamped down on talking about Roe versus Wade.

- Internally.

ALLIE GARFINKLE: Internally, yeah. So right now, we're reading the tea leaves.

- Yeah, for sure. Yahoo Finance's Allie Garfinkle, thanks so much for the breakdown there. Appreciate it.