Women in the United States are urging each other to delete their period tracking apps in the wake of Friday's Roe v. Wade overruling.
As reported by news.com.au, more and more women in the US are growing fearful over how their intimate data may be used following the United States Supreme Court's ruling to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
Justices vote 5-4 to overrule Roe v. Wade, which means that there will no longer be a federal constitutional right to an abortion in order to terminate a pregnancy with the first two trimesters.
Instead, each state will be able to determine its own abortion rights - with CNN reporting that nearly half of the states in the US have or will pass laws that ban abortion, as others plan to introduce laws to further restrict the procedure.
Amid the outcry on social media, US author Jessica Khoury warned her followers in a tweet: "Delete your period tracking apps today."
Khoury's tweet has received more than 96,000 retweets as of this writing.
And Khoury wasn't the only tweet calling for people to remove period tracking apps from their cell phones:
Further expanding on these concerns, NPR reports that the data collected by period tracking applications could - in theory - be used to penalize anyone seeking or considering an abortion, as these apps can report when a person's period begins and ends, as well as when a pregnancy stops and starts.
NPR adds that some of the biggest period tracking apps include Flo, with over 43 million active users and Clue, which boasts approximately 12 million monthly users.
In response to the fears of its users, both apps have released statements regarding Friday's SCOTUS decision.
Clue tweeted: "We are, and always have been, committed to protecting your private health data. Your tracked experience should empower you, whatever your private health decisions. We will never enable anyone to use it against you."
The company has also pinned tweets from May 4, that state: "We've had messages from users concerned about how their data could be used by US courts if Roe vs Wade is overturned. We completely understand this anxiety, and we want to reassure you that any health data you track in Clue about pregnancy or abortion is private and safe.
"Keeping your sensitive data safe is fundamental to our values and what we believe in, and also fundamental to our business model, because that depends on earning our community’s trust.
"And we are based in Berlin. As a European company, Clue is obliged under European Union law (the General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR) to apply special protections to our users' reproductive health data. We will not disclose it. We will stand up for our users."
Flo has also released a statement to its social media pages, writing: "In the wake of the recent United States Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, we want to share the actions we are taking as a company to ensure the privacy of our users’ data."
The company has vowed to "do everything in our power to protect the data and privacy of our users", reassuring its users that it has "comprehensive security measures in place and will never sell your personal data".
Additionally, the app announced a new 'Anonymous Mode', which it describes as "an option that allows users to access the Flo app anonymously without providing their name or email address."
"Flo will always stand up for the health of women. And to us, this means taking a pro-health stance as it relates to reproductive health which aligns with the World Health Organization (WHO): Being able to obtain a safe abortion is a crucial part of healthcare.
"Together, we will continue to work to build a better and safer future for women’s health," Flo's statement concludes.
