Menstruation apps: What happens to your data and how it can be used to criminalize abortion

Two investigations warn about how data collected through menstrual tracking apps can be used by governments to monitor people’s reproductive lives, and by companies to make a profit

Catalina Oquendo
SEP 13, 2025

What does the volatile global political environment have to do with the menstruation of millions of people? With whom do menstrual cycle apps share our medical data? And how can this information be used to criminalize women who choose to have an abortion?

More and more people are downloading menstrual tracking apps on their phones. Hence, these questions are becoming a major concern for researchers and academics. This is because the data stored in these apps is considered to be a “gold mine” for the market.

Continued; https://english.elpais.com/health/2025-09-14/menstruation-apps-what-happens-to-your-data-and-how-it-can-be-used-to-criminalize-abortion.html


Revealed: women’s fertility app is funded by anti-abortion campaigners

Revealed: women's fertility app is funded by anti-abortion campaigners
The Femm app has users in the US, EU and Africa and sows doubt over the safety of birth control, a Guardian investigation has found

Jessica Glenza in New York
Thu 30 May 2019

A popular women’s health and fertility app sows doubt about birth control, features claims from medical advisers who are not licensed to practice in the US, and is funded and led by anti-abortion, anti-gay Catholic campaigners, a Guardian investigation has found.

The Femm app, which collects personal information about sex and menstruation from users, has been downloaded more than 400,000 times since its launch in 2015, according to developers. It has users in the US, the EU, Africa and Latin America, its operating company claims.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/30/revealed-womens-fertility-app-is-funded-by-anti-abortion-campaigners?wpisrc=nl_lily&wpmm=1