Michigan Senate clears legislation to secure reproductive health data as Republicans raise concerns

Michigan Democratic lawmakers voted through a bill aimed to secure reproductive health care data from being tracked and sold without consent.
As the federal right to an abortion was repealed in the summer of 2022 by the U.S. Supreme Court, there were public pushes for women to delete health related apps such as period trackers in an effort to protect their data from being used against them criminally.
Many women have been shocked to find out that their information is not secure against outside eyes, especially because many are not aware the apps they’ve relied on have been collecting their data at all, Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) said during a floor speech on Thursday supporting her bill to secure reproductive data.
“I think a lot of the perception is that, because this is medical data, that my voluntarily entering it into a service that is supposed to provide me with a service in return, means that my data is protected, and far too often that is not the case,” McMorrow testified. “I don’t think people realize how much information, biometric data is in our watches, in our phones. They can be used against us.”
McMorrow’s bill, Senate Bill 1082, would create the “Reproductive Health Data Privacy Act,” which would prohibit entities from collecting or processing an individual’s reproductive health data without their informed consent and using the data only for the specified purposes the user offered consent for.
Apps that help women track their menstrual cycles, receive pregnancy information and monitor miscarriages help women have more tools in their toolbox to receive adequate help when they see their doctor, McMorrow said.
Apps that give women avenues to track health data and receive correlating information about their bodies, also known as Femtech, have been developed as one solution to underinvestment in health care solutions, research and options for women that lead to negative health care outcomes.
Whitmer supports legislation that would protect reproductive health data
Making sure private medical information remains private and can’t be sold is a good idea, Sen. John Damoose (R-Harbor Springs) told fellow lawmakers on the floor Thursday. He added that during a committee meeting that week, the whole room of lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle were nodding their heads in agreement that private health data shouldn’t be sold to advertisers.
But there’s more to the bill Damoose said, sharing his “no vote” explanation, saying a portion of the bill that puts restrictions on tracking geographic location data of consumers. Companies often implement what are called “geofences” to determine approximate location through cell phone data and other means in order to target advertisements.
Under the bill, a person cannot implement a geofence around an entity that provides reproductive health related services to clients in-person if the location data is being used to determine if that person is seeking reproductive health care services, if it’s being used to collect reproductive health care data, or to send notifications or advertisements related to reproductive health care.
Damoose told lawmakers on the floor that the bill’s true partisan focus is made clear by the advertising section, which seeks to prevent anti-abortion groups from advertising to people seeking abortions.
“I believe this law will ultimately be unconstitutional based on First Amendment Freedom of speech laws and on religious freedom laws,” Damoose said.
The bill cleared the state Senate without any Republican support 20-16 with two lawmakers excused.
On Tuesday, Right to Life of Michigan submitted testimony to the Senate Housing and Human Services Committee decrying the bill for limiting reproductive options for women as pregnancy help centers would not be permitted to advertise to women within 1,850 feet of an abortion clinic.
“Abortion is legal in Michigan for any reason or no reason at all and at any point in pregnancy, but for choice to truly exist, women must have every opportunity to make a choice for life,” Right to Life of Michigan Legislative Director Geneiveve Marnon said in the submitted testimony. “Under the guise of offering additional protections for “reproductive health data,” this bill actually limits the choices presented to a woman experiencing an unplanned pregnancy, so that abortion seems to be the only option.”
There’s nothing in the bill to stop anti-abortion groups from placing billboards or otherwise distributing mailers to target all women in a certain area, McMorrow said. The bill prevents companies and the government from “misusing or tracking” a person’s exact location in order to virtually “follow” them into their doctor’s office.
The legislation now moves to the Michigan House for consideration.
