Should you warn patients against period tracking apps? Experts say they pose 'a very real and present danger'

In the post-Roe era, patients who use menstrual cycle tracking apps have started wondering if their health data could be used against them.^[]

In fact, a 2024 study found that 20 popular cycle-tracking apps—used by hundreds of millions of people—were "coercing" women into sharing health data, despite the apps’ questionable security policies.^[]

So, the fear certainly isn’t unfounded. As Bloomberg reports, patients have been persecuted for seeking abortions after authorities scrolled social media apps for “proof.”^[] For example, police in Nebraska used Facebook messages to investigate someone's alleged abortion. In other cases, women’s text messages and web search history were used against them (this occurred in Mississippi and Indiana).

@jengolbeck Your period data is at risk both from unexpected sharing by app providers and from hacks #privacy #roevwade #womenshealth @priyaxistingcondition ♬ Le Calin - 斌杨Remix

What the experts say

Janene Oleaga, Esq., a fertility lawyer, reproductive rights advocate, and founder of Oleaga Law, LLC, says she spends most of her time working on legislative efforts that support access to reproductive care, including access to in-vitro fertilization and abortion. 

It may depend on the state

Oleaga says that the danger is especially real in Republican majority states: “As we see red states continue to propose personhood legislation, enact abortion bans, and even go so far as in Texas and Mississippi to criminalize anyone assisting a woman (or a child for that matter) in obtaining an abortion, it's dangerous to willingly provide anyone with data that could be used against them,” she says. “With the disparity between funding for women's health research when compared to men's health research in mind, I'm skeptical for what exactly this data is being mined for.”

Oleaga offers up a hypothetical: If a Texan woman is wearing a period-tracking ring and has a miscarriage, her hormonal fluctuation would be tracked by the ring. “Will [the tracking app company] provide this information to the Texas Attorney General as a possible investigation for an abortion?” Oleaga asks, rhetorically. “If [the company] doesn't automatically provide this data to Texas, could it be subpoenaed? What if [a] database tracking women's hormone fluctuations is hacked? Or taken over by a friend of the new administration? 

Lauren A. Tetenbaum, LCSW, JD, PMH-C, an advocate and therapist who specializes in perinatal and perimenopausal periods, agrees: “It's a frightening time to be a woman in the United States,” she says. “My clients and friends are scared and feel their privacy is violated by laws restricting access to reproductive health care. I do think that women should be cautious about tracking their periods on apps, especially if they live in certain states that have strict anti-abortion rules.”