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

European Union funds charity that compares abortion to Holocaust

EU hands €1.2m to charity that spreads disinformation about sexual and reproductive rights to teens and women globally

Sian Norris, Soita Khatondi Wepukhulu
3 October 2024

The European Union has given more than a million euros to a charity that peddles anti-abortion misinformation and whose founder compared reproductive rights to the Holocaust, an investigation by openDemocracy can reveal.

The US-based World Youth Alliance (WYA) – which has a European office in Brussels – is officially a “non-religious” non-governmental organisation, yet its values and teachings often echo religious conservative talking points on gender rights.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/eu-funding-anti-abortion-charity/

Men’s Catholic order gave secret millions to ‘deceptive’ anti-abortion centres

Revealed: Tax filings show Knights of Columbus ploughed at least $10.8m into ‘crisis pregnancy centres’ in six years

Open Democracy – by Diana Cariboni, Angelina De Los Santos, Mónica Cordero
14 February 2024

A multi-billion-dollar all-male Catholic order in the US has handed at least $10.8m to hundreds of anti-abortion centres in six years, openDemocracy can reveal – several times what was previously known.

Founded in the 19th century to assist Irish widows and orphans in the US, the Knights of Columbus – named after Christopher Columbus – funded at least 485 of the 2,500 so-called ‘crisis pregnancy centres’ in America between 2017 and 2022, our analysis of hundreds of documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) found. The order claims to have two million members.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/knights-of-columbus-crisis-pregnancy-centres-anti-abortion-us-daf/

Anti-abortion group uses US federal grants to push controversial fertility app

Anti-abortion group uses US federal grants to push controversial fertility app
Femm app, which sows doubt about the pill, promoted by Obria group that was awarded $1.7m by Trump administration

Jessica Glenza
Mon 29 Jul 2019

US federal grants intended to help poor women obtain contraceptives are being used to promote a menstruation tracking app funded and operated by anti-birth control and anti-abortion campaigners.

The Femm app sows doubt about the birth control pill and promotes itself as a natural way for women to “avoid or achieve” pregnancy. The app collects women’s most intimate data, including details on menstruation, sex, mood and prescription drugs. Its developers say it has been downloaded more than 400,000 times.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/29/us-federal-grants-femm-app-natural-birth-control

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