Last week many a technology company was scrambling to see what could be done as regards the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the United States Supreme Court, and specifically how to put in place more privacy protections.

This has seen several big tech firms look to assist employees needing to go to other States in order to have abortions, but Google is also looking at restricting access to location data for abortion clinics.

While the company did not expressly note abortion clinics, it is clear to infer the intention behind this latest announcement.

“Privacy matters to people — especially around topics such as their health. Given that these issues apply to healthcare providers, telecommunications companies, banks, tech platforms, and many more, we know privacy protections cannot be solely up to individual companies or states acting individually,” wrote Jen Fitzpatrick, SVP for Core at Google in a blog post.

“We understand that people rely on Google to keep their personal data secure. We’ve long been committed to this work, and today we’re sharing additional steps we’re taking to protect user privacy around health issues,” she added.

The protections are three-fold, with the first aiming to delete location data history shortly after a person has visited a faclity that deals with personal or intimate healthcare.

“Some of the places people visit — including medical facilities like counseling centers, domestic violence shelters, abortion clinics, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight loss clinics, cosmetic surgery clinics, and others — can be particularly personal. Today, we’re announcing that if our systems identify that someone has visited one of these places, we will delete these entries from Location History soon after they visit. This change will take effect in the coming weeks,” unpacked Fitzpatrick.

The new additions extend to apps too, with developers now given access to tools to provide greater transparency over how user data is collected and shared. On this front, much of the onus falls on developers to do the right thing, so it will be interesting to see just how much willingness for transparency there is here.

“To further promote transparency and control for users, we also recently introduced Play’s new data safety section that developers use to give people more information about how apps collect, share, and secure their data,” the SVP noted.

Lastly, Google outlined its position in terms of sharing data within the framework of official legislation.

“We remain committed to protecting our users against improper government demands for data, and we will continue to oppose demands that are overly broad or otherwise legally objectionable. We also will continue to support bipartisan legislation, such as the NDO Fairness Act recently passed by the House of Representatives, to reduce secrecy and increase transparency around government data demands,” concluded Fitzpatrick.

It is unclear for now whether Google will ensure the full extent of privacy protections will apply to those visiting abortion clinics or similar facilities, but for now it is at least promising to see some proactive steps are being taken.

[Image – Photo by GeoJango Maps on Unsplash]