Before Republicans take control of the state House in 2025, Democrats in Michigan are working this month to pass legislation they claim will enhance reproductive health care, namely the security of digital health data.
A law to safeguard reproductive health data, including information recorded on menstrual cycle monitoring apps, is being supported by Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The goal of similar laws that have been approved in other states is to prevent the data from being used to target abortion seekers.
The digital privacy bill’s author, state senator Mallory McMorrow, stated, “it feels like a very urgent need for us to get this done while we have a window in Michigan with the Democratic majority for the next few weeks.”
The hurry is a response to predictions that if Republicans take control of the state House in January, it will be more difficult to enact the reproductive health care measures that Democrats want. In the November election, Democrats maintained their hold on the state Senate.
A provision in the internet privacy bill that Republicans claim will suppress anti-abortion advertising has prompted their opposition.
The December session, which started Tuesday, will also debate proposals related to reproductive health, such as expanding access to birth contraception and a package on Black maternal health.
Some women in areas with strong abortion restrictions started to worry that their health information would be exploited to track their reproductive status after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Menstrual cycle tracking apps gained a lot of attention.
In Michigan, abortion is protected by the constitution. However, McMorrow has little faith in President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to veto any potential nationwide abortion ban or his campaign’s attempts to disassociate himself from Project 2025, which called for a reduction in access to abortion and contraception.
Women can use period tracking apps to record daily health information, including the severity of their menstrual flow and other symptoms like cramps. They are able to record losses and pregnancies.
McMorrow remarked, “These tools are really valuable,” “I just want to make sure that the guardrails are there when indications from the incoming federal administration is they would potentially weaponize the data in a way that is very dangerous.”
While digital tech corporations are not prohibited by federal law from tracking menstruation cycles or an individual’s whereabouts and selling it to data brokers, medical professionals are prohibited from sharing health data without a patient’s consent. Federal prohibition legislation has never taken off, primarily because to resistance from the tech sector.
States differ in the way their laws operate. While Virginia has a legislation that specifically forbids the issuing of search warrants, subpoenas, or court orders for electronic or digital menstrual health data, Washington state has a digital privacy law that encompasses any health-related data in general.
Under Michigan’s proposal, companies or organizations would only be allowed to utilize reproductive health data for the services they offer, and customers would have to be made aware of how the data is being used. An entity would require the consumer’s express, signed approval before selling the data. Additionally, customers would always be able to choose not to have their data sold.
Additionally, it would control the use of geofencing, which enables marketers to target customers with ads depending on their location, and shops, who frequently gather data to target customers with adverts.
The bill would make it illegal to target people with ads and use location data to determine who is obtaining reproductive health care. Visitors to fertility or abortion clinics would fall under this category.
Anti-abortion activists have objected to the bill’s geofencing clause. The law would stop anti-abortion advertisements from reaching women who are visiting an abortion clinic, according to Genevieve Marnon, legislative director for Right to Life of Michigan, who testified before the committee on Tuesday.
“This isn’t safeguarding women’s reproductive health data,” she stated. “It is limiting the options presented to women.”
Sen. John Damoose, a Republican who voted against the bill in committee, feels that the geofencing clause violates religious and speech rights by blocking advertisements that are critical of abortion.
On party lines, the bill passed out of committee on Tuesday and moved on to the Senate chamber for a final vote on Thursday.
The Guttmacher Institute’s principal state policy director, Kimya Forouzan, anticipates that other state legislatures will address the issue in the upcoming year. Guttmacher monitors changes in reproductive health and advocates for abortion rights.
Democrats in Michigan have approved legislation during the last two years that adds safeguards for surrogacy to state law and repeals several anti-abortion statutes, including the state’s 1931 prohibition. Several other reproductive health-related bills are being considered by lawmakers this month.
Among other things, a set of proposals aimed at enhancing maternity health for Black women would establish a scholarship for doulas. On Tuesday, the Senate passed its package on the subject to the House.
Two measures that would mandate insurance to cover fertility treatments, including as intrauterine insemination and in vitro fertilization, are being pushed by Rep. Jaime Churches, a Democrat from the downriver region of Detroit who lost her seat in November.
The state House has approved three legislation that aim to increase access to birth control through insurance. Additionally, McMorrow presented a number of measures to give patients who have given birth long-term reversible contraception, like implants or intrauterine devices, prior to their release from the hospital.
During this brief, lame duck session, Democrats are vying for time. Among those hoping to pass legislation in the next month are proponents of infrastructure, economic growth, and gun control. There will probably be a lot of debate about minimum wage rules and new paid sick leave. The amount of time available to address reproductive health interventions may be diminished by those conversations.
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