New bill attempts to ban American location and health data trade

The proposed new bill aims to ban data brokers from selling Americans' location and health information ahead of the potential Roe v. Wade overturn that could "criminalize essential health care."

"With this extremist Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade and states seeking to criminalize essential health care, it is more crucial than ever for Congress to protect consumers' sensitive data," the US senator Elizabeth Warren who drafted the bill, said. "The Health and Location Data Protection Act will ban brokers from selling Americans' location and health data, rein in giant data brokers, and set some long-overdue rules of the road for this $200 billion industry."

If the landmark 1973 court ruling is overturned, as the leaked Supreme Court draft suggests, it will be up to individual states to decide whether they want to ban abortion or not. The anticipated decision raises concerns about privacy and the potential prosecution of people choosing to have an abortion.

Warren's office claims that data brokers collect and sell personal data from millions of Americans, often without their consent or knowledge. The bill would also provide $1 billion in funding to the Federal Trade Commission over the next decade to implement and enforce the law.

Recently, 42 senators and members of Congress asked Google to "promptly reform data collection and retention practices."

"We are concerned that, in a world in which abortion could be made illegal, Google's current practice of collecting and retaining extensive records of cell phone location data will allow it to become a tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care," lawmakers said.