Sara sackner

For as long as the internet has been in existence, abortion was, until last week, a constitutionally guaranteed right. The Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade will have a number of obvious ripple effects, most significantly the so-called trigger laws that 13 states enacted to immediately ban the procedure. The decision also has huge implications for the information we access through our phones: Personal reproductive data collected in apps and sold to brokers becomes far more dangerous, as it could be aggregated or purchased by police or right-wing groups to find, and target, women who may be considering an abortion.

Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, a Democrat from California, believes personal reproductive health data—such as that collected in period-tracking apps—should have a special federal privacy protection. That’s the message behind her new bill, the My Body, My Data Act , which was introduced in the House on June 21. Democratic Senators Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Ron Wyden of Oregon will introduce a Senate version.

The bill, which has been endorsed by groups like Planned Parenthood and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, would create via the Federal Trade Commission a new standard to safeguard reproductive health data.

We spoke to Jacobs about the bill and its political prospects on Friday, the day the Supreme Court handed down its controversial decision overturning Roe . Her comments have been edited for length and clarity.

What requirements would your bill put on tech companies?

It basically limits the data that can be collected, retained, or used to what is strictly necessary to deliver their product or service. So instead of only mandating what can be done with the data we’re also mandating how much of the data they can collect.

With regard to period-tracking apps, what would the protections do?

I use a period-tracking app every month. It predicts for me when I should get my period. So, for instance, you could see right now there’s no protections from, say, a right-wing group or nonprofit group in Texas buying that data from these tech companies to create a way to surveil when women should be getting their period but aren’t (indicating a possible pregnancy).

What this bill would do is say the app maker could only collect what is strictly necessary for what it needs to provide the service, and then that it can’t share or sell that data without my express consent.

Was the impetus for writing this bill the leaked draft opinion in May indicating the Supreme Court was about to overturn Roe v. Wade ?

When the leaked draft opinion came out I started getting text messages from friends and constituents who were asking me what they should do about these apps and all their other data. And I realized that it shouldn’t be on each individual person to try and figure this out.

It’s our job as the government to put in place protections, and especially for this—some of our most sensitive and personal data. It deserves the highest level of safety and protection we can give it, like we do with other health data.

How might different groups use this data if it went unprotected?

Let’s first talk about private nonprofit groups. We know in Texas there’s the bounty law that’s part of their anti-abortion legislation; it incentivizes individual people to try to figure out who is getting an abortion so they can turn them in. Right-wing groups are starting to collect and buy this data so they can tell who should be pregnant.

We’ve already seen some of this data be used against people . You could see in states where abortion becomes criminalized, if you’re using this [app], it also has your location data, so even if you go out of state to try and get an abortion, this data would be able to tell that, and it could be used by law enforcement against you.

So one of these apps could read the GPS from the smartphone and couple that data with the app data.

And this data is already on the marketplace right now—I mean, it is very common for apps and websites of all kinds, not just reproductive. Basically their business model is to collect as much data as they can and then sell it for the purposes of ad targeting. That’s how they make their money when they provide this “free” service.

Do you think the police have their own kind of digital dragnet, which could be used to actively look for people who might be seeking abortions?

I don’t know exactly what different local police forces use in terms of data surveillance. We know that many police forces do use data surveillance as part of their work. But that’s why it’s so important that this is a data minimization approach because it’s not just about what they can access. It also limits what’s even collected.

Aside from period-tracking apps, there seem to be other ways in which a woman might inadvertently divulge that she missed her period. She might say it in a chat app or on social media. Does your bill cover those things too?

It covers apps, services, any websites, any searches, and it’s about any reproductive or sexual health data.

So you don’t think we can trust companies like Apple to place proper data collection restrictions on the app developers? Why do we need federal government to get involved?

We can’t rely on the goodwill of individual companies. And this is a basic service of government—to provide protections for our most personal and sensitive data. We already do it with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) for other forms of health data. And this is just making sure that our reproductive sexual health data has the highest level of protection.

For years Congress has failed to pass any wide-ranging privacy legislation that would cover the tech industry. Where does your bill fit in within this wider need for data privacy legislation? Is this something that might be swept into a larger bill that covers more aspects of privacy?

As a millennial, I have lived most of my life online. I think it’s long overdue for Congress to have a much larger conversation about data privacy and protection. I also think at this moment there is an urgent need to protect this particular kind of data with particular kinds of protection needs.

For instance, in most of the data protection bills that are currently being discussed, they all have a carve-out (exemption) for small businesses and small nonprofit organizations. But for this specific kind of data you actually would not want that carved out, because that’s actually one of the cases that we are very worried about is small, right-wing nonprofit groups buying up this data. So this is a specific, urgent problem. It is complementary to all the other efforts.

Can you provide some insight into the politics around this bill, and how it’s progressing in Congress?

We’ve got many cosponsors from across the ideological spectrum. I was actually just talking about it with leadership today. I think everyone knows that we need to act quickly to put protections in place, given the Supreme Court decision. I think there’s a good likelihood that it comes up for a vote.

According to the APA’s 2021 COVID-19 Practitioner Survey, 43% of psychologists reported an increase in overall number of patients compared with 2020. At the same time, 41% of psychologists said they couldn’t keep up with demand and 46% felt burned out.

Thankfully, there are multiple ways to access care at a variety of price points, including telehealth options.

USE RESOURCES THAT YOU MIGHT ALREADY HAVE

Your employer may offer an employee assistance program, or EAP, which can connect you, your spouse or partner and your children with various services including short-term counseling. Review your benefits to see what your EAP provides, if you have one.

If you have school-aged children, their guidance counselor can be a helpful resource not just for academic concerns, but also for more personal, social and behavioral issues. College students may also have access to free or low-cost counseling services on campus.

And don’t forget primary care physicians and OB-GYNs. Annual preventative care visits, which are free with insurance, are an opportunity to talk about your mental health. Your doctor might prescribe medication or refer you to other practitioners. Dr. Carlene MacMillan, co-chair of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Consumer Issues Committee, recommends setting aside time during your routine appointment to talk about your mental health.

“If you’re healthy mentally, physically it’s easier to take care of whatever else is going on,” she says.

SEARCH FOR PROVIDERS WHO TAKE YOUR INSURANCE

You can search for in-network providers through your health insurance company, but MacMillan cautions that the information there might be out of date. Double-check with Psychology Today (yes, as in the magazine). Its website has a search tool you can use to find therapists, psychiatrists, treatment centers and support groups. According to MacMillan, the search results from this tool could be more up to date than some insurance databases.

Alma and Headway are two additional websites where you can search for providers who accept your health insurance.

ASK IF THERAPISTS OFFER REDUCED PRICING

Many therapists set aside appointment slots for patients who can’t afford the full hourly rate. Ask therapists in your area if they accept patients on a sliding scale, meaning they lower their rates based on your income. And if you’re open to group therapy, that can cost less than seeing a therapist one-on-one.

You can also look beyond private practices. “Most places, at least cities, have community mental health centers that offer a sliding scale,” says Nance Roy, chief clinical officer at The Jed Foundation, or JED, a nonprofit with the goal of supporting and protecting mental health for teens and young adults.

Open Path is a nonprofit that can help you find affordable care if your household income is less than $100,000 a year and you either lack health insurance or your insurance plan doesn’t offer mental health benefits . You can join their mental health collective by paying $59 for a lifetime membership. From there, you’ll be able to access therapy for a per-session fee of $30 to $60 for individual counseling, or $30 to $80 for couples or families.

TURN TO TEACHING HOSPITALS

Hospitals and universities in your area may have programs where you can see a clinician in training, who is supervised by a licensed practitioner, for a lower cost. Look for local teaching hospitals or colleges with psychology programs.

GET HELP VIRTUALLY

Use of telehealth expanded because of COVID-19, when privacy regulations adjusted to allow more ways for patients to communicate with medical professionals. Even now that in-person appointments are back, virtual appointments are still an option that’s especially convenient for anyone who previously had to take off work or pay for a babysitter to attend sessions.

“The possibilities of how you can consume mental health care is where the disruption really happened,” says Heela Gonen, vice president of strategic partnerships and communications at BetterHelp, an online therapy platform. “You see that people are not going back.”

Mental health platforms like BetterHelp and Brightside make it possible to communicate with a therapist on a video or phone call, or through text. For kids and teens, MacMillan recommends Little Otter and Brightline.

ADD ON SOME SELF-CARE

While you search for a therapist, or in between appointments, it can be helpful to incorporate mindfulness practices into your day, like meditation, breathing exercises or even just going for a walk and observing everything around you.

“The research is clear on the value of mindfulness in terms of promoting mental health,” Roy says. “It’s not about stopping your thoughts, it’s about letting them pass.”

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This column was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet. Sara Rathner is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @SaraKRathner.

RELATED LINKS:

NerdWallet: Free ways to protect your mental health

Psychology Today: Find a therapist

The 2021 American Psychological Association’s COVID-19 Practitioner Survey was distributed to approximately 26,400 doctoral-level active licensed psychologists in the United States from Aug. 30 to Sept. 17, 2021. A total of 1,141 psychologists responded to the survey, yielding a response rate of 4.3%.

Sara Carnicelli, a 27-year-old runner, will be accompanied at the competition by Monsignor Melchor Jose Sanchez de Toca y Alameda, the head of the Vatican’s sports department in the culture ministry, the team said Tuesday.

Carnicelli was third fastest in the 5,000 meters this month at the small states of Europe championships in Malta.

More than 3,000 athletes representing 27 nations are competing in the Mediterranean Games.

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More AP sports coverage from Europe: https://apnews.com/hub/sports-europe and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports