John,

Google is still collecting and retaining location data about where people go — including data on people visiting abortion clinics that could be used to criminalize these actions. We cannot let Google off the hook. Add your name to call on Google to stop collecting location data and aiding anti-abortion prosecutors.

After Roe v. Wade was overturned, and after tons of pressure from organizations like Fight and members of Congress,¹ Google promised in July 2022 to protect sensitive health data by deleting the Location History of users who visited abortion clinics.² We weren’t excited about this response, given that our ask was for Google to completely halt the collection and retention of location data, and a recent experiment by our partners at Accountable Tech shows Google hasn’t even followed through: location history for a short trip to an abortion clinic — like someone dropping off a friend or family member — is still retained if a user has Location History enabled on their Google Account.³

Given that Google complies with over 75% of government requests for data, this sensitive location data could be subpoenaed and weaponized by state governments to prosecute those seeking or assisting with reproductive health care.⁴

We need to continue to push Google to take real actions to protect users in a post-Roe America. We succeeded in getting Google’s attention on this last year, and now we have to make so much noise they’re forced to take real action to protect abortion seekers. Join us in calling them out and demanding they stop aiding abortion prosecutors.

In solidarity,

Leila and the team at ♥️Fight

Footnotes:

1. AP: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-technology-health-patient-privacy-f5d03037cec832160c450d24b026701d

2. Washington Post: www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/07/01/google-abortion/

3. NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/new-bill-seeks-to-protect-abortion-patients-by-limiting-access-to-data-169819717762