Editorial: Google must make good on abortion privacy pledge to women

Google must make good on its abortion privacy pledge to women.

A senior Google executive, Jen Fitzpatrick, said in a blog post  July 1 that Google would delete its users’ location history whenever they visit an abortion clinic, domestic violence shelter, fertility center and other medical facilities.

The blog post marked the company’s first response on how it would react to the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, which will result in abortion being banned or limited in more than half of the states across the country. That in turn raises the threat that women could be prosecuted for seeking out-of-state options to terminate pregnancies. Searches for “abortion clinic near me” reportedly spiked after the June 24 ruling. It’s only a matter of time before law enforcement officials in states banning abortions begin pressuring companies such as Google to turn over data that would help prosecutors build their cases.

What will Google do when law enforcement officers come calling? Bloomberg columnist Parmy Olson reports that the company received nearly 150,000 requests for user data from U.S. law enforcement in the first half of 2021, and it handed over information on users in 78% of those cases.

This creates a simple matter of trust.

Americans’ confidence in the tech industry has been plummeting for years, with good reason. A Washington Post poll in November 2021 said that 79% of internet users don’t trust Big Tech. Facebook is far and away the least trusted Big Tech company, winning the trust of only 28% of Americans. But only 48% of  Americans trust Google.

If Google and other tech companies fail to protect women’s medical privacy, those numbers should sink like a rock.

All of this concern wouldn’t be necessary if the tech industry had worked with Congress to push through an Internet Bill of Rights.

It remains a huge embarrassment that the United States is the only major developed nation without fundamental online user protections. It’s been more than three years since Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Santa Clara, released a set principles for an Internet Bill of Rights that had the endorsement of World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, but the legislation continues to languish in Congress.

Among the principles set forth by Khanna are essential privacy protections that could alleviate the concerns of women confronted by unwanted or potentially dangerous pregnancies.

Google and other tech firms have voiced support for a national privacy law, but fears that legislation might stifle innovation have stalled progress in Congress.

The vast majority of Americans want federal privacy protections. The Supreme Court’s overturning Roe v. Wade creates an urgent need for action. Google and other tech firms should take steps to ensure women’s medical privacy and renew efforts to pass the Internet Bill of Rights and other legislation protecting Americans’ privacy.