Democrats call on FTC to protect mobile location data of people seeking abortions, amid concern it could be bought by anti-abortion vigilantes

• Democrats told the FTC they're worried about data brokers selling location data from people seeking abortions.
• Sixteen Democratic senators wrote to FTC commissioner Lina Khan to ask that this data is protected.

Sixteen Democratic senators have written to Federal Trade Commissioner Lina Khan to ask how the personal location data of people seeking abortions will be protected in states where abortion may soon be criminalized.

The senators, led by Amy Klobuchar and Tammy Baldwin, said they had "serious concerns regarding recent reports identifying data brokers buying and selling location data that include personal data related to family planning and abortion services."

The senators cited a recent report by VICE that suggested anti-abortion vigilantes or organizations could buy datasets to trace people who have visited abortion clinics such as Planned Parenthood. Vice reported that data broker Safegraph held aggregated phone location data on 600 Planned Parenthood clinics.

An FTC spokesperson said: "I can confirm we have received the letter but we do not have any additional comment."

Concerns about the use of location data such as this has been heightened by a leaked draft US Supreme Court opinion indicating that Roe v. Wade could soon be overturned. The decision, if made officially, is likely to lead to abortion bans or severe limits on abortion in at least 23 states.

Data sold by brokers is generally anonymized but has the potential to be de-anonymized.

"We are concerned about the privacy of women making decisions that should be between them, their families, and their doctors, as they have for nearly five decades," the letter sent by the 16 senators said.

Period-tracker apps have also come under new scrutiny, although privacy experts say the risk of data being passed to law enforcement is low. Flo, which had previously informed Facebook when a user was on their period or wanted to get pregnant, settled a case with the FTC on its healthcare data-sharing practices in 2021.