Michigan Democrats move to protect reproductive health data before GOP takes control of House
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Democrats are pushing this month to pass legislation they say will improve reproductive health care, in particular the safety of digital health data, ahead of Republicans taking over the state House in 2025.
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is backing a bill designed to protect reproductive health data including data logged on menstrual cycle tracking apps. Similar legislation that has passed in other states is aimed at keeping the data from being used to target people seeking abortions.
“This feels like a very urgent need for us to get this done while we have a window in Michigan with the Democratic majority for the next few weeks,” said state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, sponsor of the digital privacy bill.
The rush is a reaction to expectations that it will be harder to pass the reproductive health care policies Democrats favor after Republicans take control of the state House in January. Democrats kept control of the state Senate in the November election.
Republicans have opposed the digital privacy bill over a section they say will stifle anti-abortion advertising.
Other reproductive health bills to be considered during the December session that began Tuesday include a package on Black maternal health and an expansion of access to birth control.
After the overturn of Roe v. Wade, some women in states with strict abortion bans began to worry that their health information could be used to track their reproductive status. Apps that track menstrual cycles became a major focus point.
Abortion is constitutionally protected in Michigan. But McMorrow does not trust President-elect Donald Trump's campaign promise to veto any possible national abortion ban nor his campaign's efforts to distance itself from Project 2025, which proposed a rollback on abortion and contraception access.
Period tracking apps allow women to take detailed day-by-day notes about their health, from how heavy their period flow is to additional symptoms such as cramping. They can log pregnancies and miscarriages.
“These tools are really valuable,” McMorrow said. “I just want to make sure that the guardrails are there when indications from the incoming federal administration is they would potentially weaponize the data in a way that is very dangerous.”
Federal law bars medical providers from sharing health data without a patient’s consent but doesn’t prevent digital tech companies from tracking menstrual cycles or an individual’s location and selling it to data brokers. Legislation for federal bans have never gained momentum, largely because of opposition from the tech industry.
How the legislation works varies from state to state. Washington state has digital privacy law that broadly covers all health-related data while Virginia has a law that explicitly prohibits the issuance of search warrants, subpoenas or court orders for electronic or digital menstrual health data.
Michigan’s proposal would require businesses or organizations to use reproductive health data only for the services it provides, and consumers must be informed of how the data is being used. In order to sell that data, an entity would need explicit, signed consent from the consumer. Consumers would also have the option to opt out from their data being sold at any time.
It would also regulate retailers, who often compile data to target consumers with advertisements, and the use of geofencing, which allows marketers to target consumers with ads based on their location.
The bill would prohibit identifying who is receiving reproductive health care by using location information and targeting them with advertisements. This would apply to people visiting fertility or abortion clinics.
The geofencing provision of the bill has drawn objection from anti-abortion advocates. Genevieve Marnon, legislative director for Right to Life of Michigan, said in committee testimony Tuesday that the bill would prevent women visiting an abortion clinic from being reached by anti-abortion ads.
“This isn’t safeguarding women’s reproductive health data," she said. “It is limiting the options presented to women.”
Republican Sen. John Damoose, who voted against the bill in committee, believes the geofencing provision encroaches on freedom of speech and religion by preventing anti-abortion advertising.
The bill was voted out of committee Tuesday on party lines and advanced Thursday toward a final vote in the Senate chamber.
Kimya Forouzan, principal state policy director at the Guttmacher Institute, expects the topic to be taken up by other state legislatures next year. Guttmacher, which supports abortion rights, tracks reproductive health trends.
Over the past two years, Michigan Democrats have passed bills repealing a number of anti-abortion laws, including the state’s 1931 ban, and adding surrogacy protections to state law. Lawmakers are considering a number of others related to reproductive health this month.
A group of bills focused on improving maternal health for Black women would create a doula scholarship, among other measures. The Senate voted its package on the topic through to the House on Tuesday.
Rep. Jaime Churches, a Democrat from the downriver area of Detroit who lost her seat in November, is trying to gain traction for two bills that would require insurance to cover fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization and intrauterine insemination.
Three bills seeking to expand access to birth control through insurance have passed the state House. McMorrow also introduced a series of bills aimed at providing long-lasting reversible contraception, such an implants or intrauterine devices, to patients who have given birth before they are discharged from a hospital.
There is competition among Democrats for time during this short, lame duck session. Advocates for economic development, infrastructure and gun control measures are among the many looking to push through bills in the month that is left. Major contention over new paid sick leave and minimum wage requirements is likely to garner attention. Those discussions could reduce the amount of time available to debate reproductive health measures.
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