Femtech Data Privacy post-Dobbs: A Preliminary Analysis of User Reactions

Abstract

Femtech entails a growing category of digital tools and services - including mobile apps, wearables, and internet-connected devices - designed to help women track their personal, reproductive, and sexual health. Entrusted by millions of users to track menstrual cycles, ovulation windows, and plan or prevent pregnancies, these apps collect large amounts of deeply personal data. In the U.S., femtech - and how it collects, stores, and discloses data - is largely unregulated, and users are left to trust the policies and promises made by femtech providers to protect their privacy. In light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion, many femtech users are now worried that their personal health data could be used against them in criminal and civil proceedings. In this poster, we provide preliminary findings of whether user concerns over data privacy have changed since the Dobbs decision in June 2022, through a thematic and sentiment analysis of user reviews of femtech apps in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. We then point to ways femtech platforms could address such concerns through privacy-by-design and changes to privacy policies.