How data from period-tracking and pregnancy apps could be used to prosecute pregnant people in the US

Many of the apps had vague privacy policies that didn't spell out what data could be shared with government agencies or law enforcement. — Technology phone photo created by jannoon028 - www.freepik.com

Many popular reproductive health apps are lacking when it comes to protecting users' data privacy, according to a new report highlighting the potential legal risk to people seeking an abortion.

After studying 20 of the most popular period-tracking and pregnancy-tracking apps, researchers from the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation found that 18 of them had data collection practices that raised privacy or security concerns. The report also considered five wearable devices that track fertility but did not raise concerns about their data collection.