Solidarity Across State Lines: What Massachusetts’

Data Privacy can do for Texas Women.

Jessica Reilly

What is the current situation?

On June 24th of 2022, nearly 50 years of legal precedent was disregarded in the U.S.

Supreme Court ruling in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. In a 5-4 vote, the

landmark case Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion was revoked. Since then,

nearly half of U.S. states have placed an outright ban or gestational limit on abortion rights.

Being the first time that the Supreme Court has taken away a fundamental right, it has been made

clear that states are taking no time in limiting the reproductive rights of women. As stated by the

Center for Reproductive Rights, this ruling is “forcing people to travel hundreds and thousands

of miles to access abortion care or carry pregnancies against their will”. This is the grave
obstruction to human rights in 21 states–inflicting physical, mental, employment and financial

implications to the women of this country.

Amongst these states, Texas has been in the spotlight for the state legislature’s response

to the Dobbs decision. In Texas, legislation has pushed beyond an outright ban of abortion to

restrict the travel of women seeking care outside the state. To get around the constitutional right

to interstate travel, the state has allowed a “private right of action for any citizen to bring a civil

claim against anyone who aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion”, so long

as they are not a government employee. Its ability for private citizens to inflict punishment on

individuals, health care providers and even employers who fund travel has been renamed Texas’s

Senate Bill 8 (SB8) as a “bounty hunter law”. Other states aren’t far behind, Oklahoma passed

identical restrictions while others have (unsuccessfully) attempted to do the same.

Who unsurprisingly hasn’t followed suit is our legislators here on Beacon Hill. Following

the public health crisis that is the Dobbs decision, Massachusetts has maintained some of the

most robust reproductive rights protections–with services supported by the country’s most

advanced healthcare institutions. The 2023-2024 legislative agenda of the Planned Parenthood

Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts states their goal of “ensuring Massachusetts is a beacon for

reproductive healthcare without fear or shame”. This goal, and your privacy, however are at risk

in this age of “bounty hunter laws” and location data brokers.

What does my data have to do about this?

From your mobile coffee orders, fitness tracking, to mapping apps, the mobile services on

our phones have access to the most intimate details of our lives. You might be thinking as I once

did, and not care all too much if a coffee company knows your whereabouts. But do you care if

anyone could have that information? I do, and that's why I’m concerned.
 In Massachusetts, companies can sell your location data without your permission. I didn;t

know this and neither do two third of Massachusetts voters according to a study by ACLU MA

and Beacon Research. Without any state or federal laws in place, data brokers are permitted to

buy location data from companies and sell it to anyone with a credit card. This means that your

personal data is available for profit and extremist agendas. In addition to frightening access to

domestic abusers, foreign governments and employers - “abortion bounty hunters” authorized by

SB8 and adjacent legislation also have access. In fact, data brokers have already sold the location

data of people visiting abortion clinics. If bought by abortion bounty hunters in Texas and other

states, this information would allow them to bring a civil claim against any patient seeking

traveling to Massachusetts for abortion or gender affirming care as well as the medical provider

they see. Therefore, the availability of data to be sold in Massachusetts puts people across the

country at risk for seeking access to human rights services - standing straight in the way of the

state being a “beacon for reproductive healthcare”. As such, 93% of Maaschuseets have found

the collection and sale of cell phone location data to be of concern - so we ought to do something

about it.

What is the Location Shield Act? How can it protect us?

Providing the framework for the Affordable Care Act, Massachusetts has a reputation for

setting the standard of healthcare legislation in the country. Honoring this legacy, Massachusetts

State Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian and State Senator Cynthia Creem have introduced

the Location Shield Act (H.357 & S.148). The bill has three prongs of protection. The first being

prohibiting companies from selling, easing, trading, or renting location data. The second being

the requirement of consequent before location data can even be collected or processed. Thirdly,

company functions are protected by allowing location data collection and processing for
legitimate purposes, so as long as consent is provided. These purposes include providing

requested services to customers (e.g. locating the closest coffee shop), responding to emergencies

(e.g. responding to 911 calls) and complying with state and federal law (e.g. in the case of

warranted investigation).

With these protections in place, the location data of all cellphones in the State of

Massachusetts are protected–and with them the human rights of all those seeking reproductive

and gender affirming healthcare. The Location Shield Act does this without infringing on the

functional purposes of location data that we all enjoy and are the foundation for many industries.

Most importantly, the Location Shield Act provides the unique opportunity for Massachusetts

law to impact the human rights of women across the country. It ensures that the prosecution and

harassment of those forced to seek reproductive and gender affirming care in Massachusetts is

never for profit and strictly prohibited. That’s why it's no question why by a 3-1 margin voters

think the State of Massachusetts has a responsibility to protect the people’s location data and

92% support passing a law to prohibit the sale of location data. With more states on track to

restrict abortion access, the time to act on location data sales is now and Massachusetts must lead

with common sense protections .

What can I do?

Our state legislators have a responsibility to protect our privacy and human rights, but as

civically engaged citizens we have a responsibility to urge them to do so. The ACLU MA has

constructed the linked email template making it easy to contact your state representative and

senator, asking them to pass the Location Shield Act with urgency. Further Planned Parenthood

Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts has also created a linked email template to surging legislators

to support the Location Shield Act and other bills on their 2024 legislative agenda. With the
gravity of people’s human rights at stake, it's essential to do everything we can to pass the

Location Shield Act. Writing, calling, and visiting the offices of your state representatives and

senators is what will take your advocacy to the next level. With collective effort, the Location

Shield Act can ensure that Masschuetts serves as a national healthcare haven in a political

climate that does not guarantee us human rights.

 Works Cited

ACLU Massachusetts. (2024, February 13). Ban the sale of location data.

https://www.aclum.org/en/ban-sale-location-data#The%20Location%20Shield%20Act

ACLU Massachusetts. (n.d.). Pass the location shield act now. here are 600 new reasons.

American Civil Liberties Union.

https://action.aclu.org/send-message/tell-state-lawmakers-pass-location-shield-act-now

Center for Reproductive Rights. (2023, May 12). Supreme Court case: Dobbs v. Jackson

Women’s Health Organization.

https://reproductiverights.org/case/scotus-mississippi-abortion-ban/

The New York Times. (2022, May 24). Tracking abortion bans across the country.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/us/abortion-laws-roe-v-wade.html

Parenthood, P. (n.d.). Planned Parenthood’s legislative agenda. Planned Parenthood Action

Fund.

https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/planned-parenthood-advocacy-fund-massachus

etts-inc/issues/leg-agenda

Valerio, H. (2023, November 10). Crossing State Lines: Texas’s abortion bounty-hunter law

implicates those who assist individuals to get an abortion out-of-state, including

employers: Published by Villanova Law Review. Villanova Law Review.

https://www.villanovalawreview.com/post/2229-crossing-state-lines-texas-s-abortion-bou

nty-hunter-law-implicates-those-who-assist-individuals-to-get-an-abortion-out-of-state-in

cluding-employers