Laboring Towards Sociotechnical Reproductive Privacy in a Post-Roe United States: Identities, Technologies, and Actors Implicated in Reproductive Privacy

Abstract

The overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 by the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson exposed and exacerbated existing gaps in reproductive privacy. In the post-Roe era, aggressive surveillance by both government and private entities has made real and heightened concerns about privacy violations for people capable of pregnancy (PCOP). We investigate PCOPs’ reproductive privacy concerns and the strategies they use to address these concerns post-Roe. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 adult cisgender women and transgender men in the U.S. Our findings show that for PCOPs, privacy risks are both persistent and anomalous, imposing what we conceptualize as reproductive privacy labor, a type of safety and data work that is, to them, both necessary and exhausting. We introduce the conceptual framework Sociotechnical Reproductive Privacy, outlining the relationships between actors, technologies, and identities that are implicated in the many contexts of reproductive privacy vulnerabilities post-Roe. We conclude with considerations for research and design, and explore the utility of approaches like refusal and regulation (e.g., technical, policy) in promoting sociotechnical reproductive privacy. This research underscores the urgent need to address the intersection of reproductive rights, privacy, and technology, offering insights into how affected individuals navigate and manage their reproductive health decisions in an increasingly surveilled sociotechnical landscape.