Whitmer asks big tech to protect data potentially used in abortion prosecutions – MLive.com

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer sent a letter Wednesday to the heads of big tech companies calling on them to take immediate measures to protect privacy of users as states restrict abortion access.

We have already begun to see instances of private data used to prosecute women seeking health care. Absent strong and transparent protections, such instances will erode trust in your platforms and products, Whitmer wrote to the heads of Amazon; Meta, which owns Facebook; Alphabet, the parent company of Google; Apple; and Microsoft.

It is critical users understand how companies interact with law enforcement, Whitmer said. Companies should notify users when they receive requests for data where legally possible.

In a news release, Whitmer, often emphasizing her work supporting abortion rights in her campaign for reelection, linked to an NPR story about a Nebraska woman prosecuted for helping her daughter illegally abort a pregnancy. Facebook messages, obtained through a warrant sent to Facebook, proved it was an abortion, not a miscarriage, according to National Public Radio.

Every Michigander deserves privacy and control over their data, which includes so much personal information about our health, habits, and lives, Whitmer said in a statement. We know the risks of someone getting access to our data. If it fell into the wrong hands, our digital footprint could tell someone where we are, who we were with, what we bought even intimate details about our health.

This comes a week after Google, in response to pressure from U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, said it has extra layers of verification in place to help confirm places labeled as abortion clinics on Google maps and search offer abortions.

When someone in the U.S. searches for abortion clinics near me, the local search results box will display facilities that have been verified to provide abortions, Google said in a Thursday letter signed by Mark Isakowitz, vice president of government affairs and public policy in the U.S. and Canada.

We continue to update our local search services for local health-related queries, including those related to abortion services, to improve the accuracy and relevance, reads the letter, sent Aug. 25 to Slotkin and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat.

In June, Slotkin and Warner wrote Google, asking them to address misleading results. Slotkin said before the updates, women searching for providers were often directed to pregnancy resource centers. Often faith-based, these centers do not provide or refer for abortion services. Instead, they offer material support, counseling, free pregnancy tests and other aid.

RELATED: Michigan has about 100 pregnancy resource centers. They are not fake clinics, directors say

On Google Maps, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a U.S. nonprofit, found 37% of search results were for anti-abortion fake clinics or crisis pregnancy centers, the lawmakers wrote in their letter.

Google said it implemented in 2019 a policy that advertisers must complete an abortion certification process to verify whether they provide abortions. Those who are not certified cannot run ads using keywords related to obtaining an abortion in the U.S. The company is continually exploring ways to make disclosures more effective. They have recently made them more noticeable, it reported.

Theres a lot more that needs to be done at the state and federal level to protect womens rights to make their own health care choices, but this is an important step, Slotkin wrote last week on Twitter.

RELATED: Slotkin, Barrett advance to November in tossup Michigan congressional race

In Michigan, abortions remain legal, but only because of two orders issued in two separate but related lawsuits filed by Planned Parenthood and Whitmer intended to block the enforcement of a 1931 law that criminalizes, almost without exception, providing abortion and establish abortion rights as protected by the state constitution.

The U.S. Supreme Court, when it overruled Roe v. Wade in June, gave potential effect to Michigans law, unenforced, but unrepealed during the five decades Roe stood.

A proposed ballot initiative could amend the state constitution to guarantee rights to make decisions about abortions. It was expected to make the November ballot, but the Board of State Canvassers deadlocked on Wednesday, meaning it is likely the Supreme Court will decide whether the issue is put to voters.

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Whitmer asks big tech to protect data potentially used in abortion prosecutions - MLive.com