Tracking abortion nationwide: Texas police searches 83,000 cameras, EFF calls for limits

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a prominent digital rights group, is warning about a “national civil liberties crisis,” following the reports that a Texas police searched data from over 83,000 cameras to track a woman suspected of self-managing an abortion.

“The systems built to track stolen cars and issue parking tickets have become tools to enforce the most personal and politically charged laws in the country,” the digital rights group said in a statement.

A recent report by 404 Media revealed that a sheriff’s office in Texas searched 83,345 automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras nationwide to track down a woman who allegedly had a self-administered abortion.

The officer searched 6,809 different camera networks maintained by the surveillance tech company Flock Safety, according to EFF. The network covers states where abortion access is protected by law, including Washington and Illinois.

In Texas, abortion is almost entirely banned following the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a landmark 1973 ruling that established women’s legal right to choose an abortion, known as Roe v. Wade. This decision gives states the authority to ban and even criminalize abortion.

EFF has documented over 1,800 agencies that have deployed ALPR systems, and at least 4,000 agencies that “are able to run searches through some agencies in Flock's network.”

“Many agencies share the data freely with other agencies across the country, with little oversight, restriction, or even standards for accessing data,” EFF notes.

The police’s inquiry to search the records lists “investigation” as the reason for the plate search, with no indication of the alleged offence. This means that people can secretly be targeted in jurisdictions where their rights are protected.

“The mass surveillance infrastructure – originally sold as a tool to find stolen cars or missing persons – is now being used to target people seeking reproductive healthcare,” EFF warns.

“This unchecked, warrant-less access that allows law enforcement to surveil across state lines blurs the line between ‘protection’ and persecution.”

EFF warns that ALPR systems are capable of tracking people’s movement in real time. Anti-abortion activists have been allegedly documenting the license plates of clinic patients, and the data can be easily cross-referenced with ALPR databases.

The digital rights advocacy calls for decisive action and rolling back “dangerous surveillance systems.”

“We must enact strong, enforceable state laws to limit data sharing, ensure proper oversight, and dismantle these surveillance pipelines before they become the new normal – or even just eliminate the systems altogether,” EFF concludes.