US President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Friday aimed at protecting the privacy of women seeking to terminate a pregnancy following a Supreme Court ruling that overturned the federal right to abortion.
Biden has come under pressure from his own Democratic Party for his alleged inaction since the historic ruling late last month.
The White House said Biden will sign an order that seeks to “protect patient privacy, including addressing the transfer and sale of sensitive healthcare data (and) combating digital surveillance related to reproductive health care services.” “
Biden’s hands are largely tied over the hot button issue, as some conservative states have already banned or severely restricted abortion since the Supreme Court ruling 50 years ago in Roe v Wade. overturned the nationwide right to abortion.
The White House said Biden’s order, which will have limited effect, seeks to protect mobile clinics stationed at state borders, ban abortions, guarantee access to contraception and abortion medicine and a body of volunteer lawyers. network is established.
Last week, Google announced It will delete users’ location history when they visit abortion clinics, domestic violence shelters and other places where privacy is demanded.
“If our systems detect that someone has visited one of these locations, we will remove these entries from the location history immediately upon their departure,” said Jane Fitzpatrick, senior vice president Google, wrote in a blog post. “This change will take effect in the coming weeks.”
Other places from which Google will not store location data include fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, and weight loss clinics.
Activists and politicians have been calling on Google and other tech giants to limit the amount of information they collect to avoid being used by law enforcement to investigate and prosecute abortion.